THE Archbishop of York, Dr David Hope, has called for a regional government to balance the north-south divide.

He said northern England was being ignored as the nation centres on the south.

Dr Hope criticised the handling of the Settle foot and mouth crisis an example of southern bias in British society.

He sees a more devolved system of government as a solution. "I am in favour of regional assemblies.

"In supporting stronger regional government, we need to reassert the interests of the north of England against a wholly southern bias. Surveys have shown there is a strong north-south divide in Britain and there is strong evidence of it.

"I have just been in Settle. At the moment, it is almost in a state of siege. Thirty nine thousand animals in the Settle triangle were slaughtered only last weekend.

"There is no recognition of this in the national newspapers nor by the politicians. They simply want to sweep it under the carpet. They've been telling us it is practically stamped out. That's outrageous.

"If there had been a southern equivalent of this disruption, say in an urban community around the London area, there would have been greater attention given to the problem."

Dr Hope, president of the Campaign for Yorkshire, was speaking in an interview with a national newspaper about the state of society in the run-up to today's general election.

Updated: 08:53 Thursday, June 07, 2001