THE Batley and Spen by-election is a wake-up call to the neglect and deprivation of people in the north of England as a result of the domination of power by Whitehall and Westminster.

We have a talented and ambitious population who could benefit from more skills training and better employment opportunities. 

We have a proud history and culture of independence, non-conformity and self-help.

And we deserve better than having to rely on foodbanks. 

Today Batley and Spen has the advantage of having a population from all parts of the world. 

The seat has a rich ethnic mix, with about a fifth of the population from the Asian community — people from India, Kashmir and Pakistan who first arrived after the second world war and took on hard jobs in local textile mills. 

And as the former local MP Jo Cox pointed out in her maiden speech the House of Commons, there is also an important Irish presence in Birstall and Batley who originally worked in construction and farming.

Batley and Spen is a marginal constituency between the Conservatives and Labour, with Batley voting predominantly Labour and Spenborough leaning towards the Conservatives.

It was once peppered with textile factories and coalmines in rural settings, and the words “factories and mines surround us” were included in my old school song at Heckmondwike Grammar School.

The song was composed by a local alderman but has been allowed  to die a quiet death along with the mills and pits and the passing of the alderman. 

Today the M62 motorway runs through Spenborough, which is now mainly a commuter belt convenient for Leeds and Manchester. 

The area is no longer one of green fields and skylarks, as expanses of private houses, semi-detached and detached, have been built across fields and even allotments. 

There are historic and even current independent and Liberal influences in the area.  

In local elections, Conservatives often stood as independents while campaigning from premises with names such as Churchill Hall.  

At the 1960 parliamentary by-election in Brighouse and Spenborough, the successful candidate, Michael Shaw, who gained the seat, stood as the Conservative and National Liberal candidate. 

There are workingmen’s clubs, known locally as liberal clubs, which is a throwback to when Sir John Simon, the Liberal MP for the Spen Valley in the 1930s, won support from many less well-off voters.

And the neighbouring Leeds North West constituency was recently held from 2005 to 2017 by a Liberal Democrat. 

Local pride should not be discounted, and the town of Heckmondwike is extremely proud of its pioneering Christmas illuminations, which it claims have blazed the trail followed by Blackpool and Southend. 

And Stanley Matthews (1915-2000), the wizard of dribble, had his football boots specially made at the Co-operative Wholesale Society boot and shoe factory.   

The famous Batley Variety Club hit the headlines in the 1960s when it attracted artists from across the world such as Shirley Bassey and Eartha Kitt. 

When Louis Armstrong was on stage, BBC Look North tried to send up Batley and featured streets of back-to-back houses decked with washing lines accompanied by Armstrong’s “What a Wonderful World.”

From historic local pride to the harsh reality of today, there is no doubt that the credibility of the Prime Minister and his Cabinet has been severely dented.

He has such a poor front bench of “yes-MPs” who appear to lack ability, experience or judgement and his government will eventually fall apart.      

So it is time to think big and begin to blaze the trail for federal government for the nations and regions of the UK, with elected assemblies, fewer MPs in Westminster and real power in the hands of the people. 

We should be thinking of the next important steps towards a “One Yorkshire” region. After all, the area has a population slightly bigger than that of Scotland.

We know that the north-south divide is a reality, with conclusive evidence that life expectancy decreases the further north you live and work from London and the south-east of England.

The case for devolution for Yorkshire is incontrovertible, and the issue now is getting on with making the case by political parties, trade unions and faith communities.

Batley and Spen can learn from the past, adapt to the present and plan for the future — determined to devolve power to the hands to the people. 

It is vital that the constituency sends a real champion of devolution to Westminster, and voters should not be distracted by anyone who thinks otherwise but prefers to divide the community. 

Michael McGowan was born in Batley and Spen where he was a councillor and county councillor. He is former Labour MEP for Leeds.