THE now seemingly unshakeable decision by Her Majesty's Revenue and Customs to close two tax offices in Bradford and one in Shipley at the cost of more than 2,000 jobs to create a Yorkshire and Humber regional centre in Leeds is an appalling one and nothing short of a horrendous snub to the district.

It also raises important questions about the whole issue of the effectiveness of the Northern Power House and the role of Local Enterprise Partnership because what should have happened in this situation is that council leaders across West Yorkshire should have been rallying round to support the case of retaining some of these jobs, if not all of them, in the Bradford district where clearly costs are lower and therefore offer a far better deal for taxpayers.

It also appears that a big issue for Government officials in making their case for choosing the location of the regional centre is that they believe that jobs in Leeds are more valuable than jobs in Bradford and also that the type of people applying for jobs in Leeds are of a better quality and have more potential than the residents of Bradford and Shipley which is a terrible slur and just the opposite of the thinking that should be taking place to provide support to the local economy.

What should be happening, of course that the Government should be working hard to bring more jobs into Bradford to help further regenerate the district rather than fewer.