Yet more business leaders in Cumbria have backed the call by in-Cumbria and rival publishers for Britain’s main political parties to commit to investing more in the North.

At the start of the week in-Cumbria – along with other newspapers and websites from our parent group Newsquest with other titles from JPI Media and Reach – published an open letter to the next Prime Minister calling on politicians to spell out what they intend to do to narrow the North-South divide.

This new Power Up The North collaboration is demanding formal backing to the Northern Powerhouse policy agenda to “reverse decades of under-investment in key services”.

It has demanded detailed plans from all major parties on everything from a bespoke Industrial Strategy for the North, to transport investment, including making Northern Powerhouse Rail a national priority, to extra investment in the region’s colleges and universities to boost skills along with more devolved powers for Cumbria.

Cumbria Chamber of Commerce chief executive Rob Johnston; chairman of the IoD’s Cumbria brand, Barry Leahey MBE and Northern Powerhouse Partnership director, Henri Murison have already backed the campaign.

They have now been joined by Nigel Mills, chairman of the Lakes Distillery and owner of the Trout Hotel in Cockermouth.

The former chairman of the Entrepreneurs Forum of 300 business owners from across the north east agreed that the north has to be represented at Government level.

He said: “I don’t understand why the investment in the north’s infrastructure is not bigger.

“According to the statistics, we are home to 15 million people, and employ a quarter of England’s workforce.

“But our east and west ports are underused because they do not have the right connectivity.

“The south of the country is becoming more developed and overcrowded.

“Spending £55bn on the HS2 rail scheme does not make any sense. If you look at what that could do for the north, it is transformational.”

He says a minister for the north would be able to help redress the imbalance and encourage more businesses to base themselves in the region.

“There is no-one in authority in the north that can command the attention of the Treasury to make that long term investment into UK plc.

“I would like to see the government make a real commitment to infrastructure expenditure over the next 10-20 years which cannot be scrapped and downgraded simply because it does not suit the agenda of the government at the time.

“Why aren’t the northern MPs coming together in a cross-party group to speak with one voice for the region?”

Michael Bell, managing director at Bells of Lazonby, agrees that action needs to be taken to power up the northern economy.

But he says that we should be able to go it alone, rather than calling on the government for more assistance,

He says that instead of building HS2 we should spend on the infrastructure we already have to improve train schedules and road quality.

“We have so much going for us in this country. We have beautiful landscape and massively underused infrastructure.

“I would like to see us have some money to decide within our county or region where we want to spend it, or an ability to raise extra revenue to do things we want.

“We have rail lines that are not properly used. Make use of what we have got, rather than build something new that we have to pay for the upkeep and can’t maintain.

“I would urge people not to demand what is going to be done for us but to have delegated powers to the region so we can raise more money.”

He suggested a bed tax for hotels and caravan parks – or even charging more for the water that we pump down to Manchester.

He said: “Why can’t we profit from our most valuable resource? If it was oil we would.”

Power up the North has received widespread support from key players across the region, including Northern Powerhouse Minister, Jake Berry MP.

Power Up The North is aiming for a similar response from the Government after it, successfully compelled the Government to take immediate action on behalf of the millions of passengers who suffered unnecessary and unforeseen travel misery following a new timetable from operator Northern.

It also wants to hear plans from all political parties on its approach to Brexit, HS2 and key public services, like the NHS, social care, education and policing.