Julian Smith MP, Member of Parliament for Skipton and Ripon, appeared on Sunday Politics Yorkshire on 22 November 2015.
Julian appeared alongside Labour's Alan Johnson to make the case for Yorkshire to seize devolution powers on offer from London.
Julian Smith MP said: 'The powers are there for the taking but we need to get local and regional politicians to get their act together on what shape Yorkshire devolution will look like.'
Speaking on Sunday Politics about the Northern Powerhouse, Julian said 'This Government has focussed on our northern cities, northern towns and our nothern rural areas more than any government in decades and I think it has given policy making here at Westminster a focus and we're devolving more powers to the regions, and I think that is a good thing and I think the term, the Northern Powerhouse, is alive, kicking and has a positive future ahead.'
Referring to the different devolution bids that have been presented for Yorkshire, Julian said he favoured the 'Greater Yorkshire' bid and that the Government had been very clear in the offfer it was making to the country. Julian said: 'my concern at the moment is that we have this very obvious proposal of Greater Yorkshire which gives us a unique opportunity in its population size, economy and a brand in the term Yorkshire whcih is known throughout the world and we have to now take that opportunity, come together, put away political prejudices and make sure that we take these powers that are on offer.'
