Productivity is a long-standing issue in the North and the implications of not taking decisive action to tackle this are clear.

The Northern Powerhouse Partnership’s analysis of ONS data has found that Northerners earn on average £8,400 less a year than Londoners. The North’s productivity is roughly 40 per cent lower than that of London and the South East. This is a stark contrast between the two.

It does not need to be that way and the answer to the productivity puzzle lies in the region with our business and civic leaders.

As Lord Jim O’Neill says, we need thinking that goes beyond election cycles and crosses party political lines. He also calls for a complete rewiring of the system.

Newly elected Labour MP Keir Mather (centre), with Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer and Angela Rayner at Selby football club, North Yorkshire, after winning the Selby and Ainsty by-election. PIC: Danny Lawson/PA Wire

Existing fiscal rules have long hampered regions like Yorkshire. The North simply cannot catch up on productivity the way things are right now.

Unfortunately, the current Government has shown that it doesn’t really have the appetite to deliver transformational policies for the region.

Whoever forms the next Government needs to be radical in tackling this productivity gap.

The region’s mayors are also right to call for the North of England to be prioritised when it comes to Labour’s proposed £28bn annual investment in green projects.

Communities in the North cannot afford to be left behind in the transition to net zero.

The Labour Party has some difficult choices to make, as Andrew Vine highlights in the pages of this newspaper, when it comes to balancing fiscal rules and investment.

The call by the mayors, made at the Great Northern Conference yesterday, highlights just how important of a role they have to play in giving the region a voice.

Rethink on fiscal rules needed to help the region realise its potential - The Yorkshire Post says