I had to laugh when I saw the results of a survey that ranked Huddersfield as one of the worst places to live in Britain.

TotallyMoney.com compared average wages to mortgage repayments and the job market.

They put Huddersfield 56th out of 64 locations. This was a specialised study that took no account of well-being, surroundings, amenities, countryside, history or the people who call it home.

It was a financial analysis presented in a way to provoke headlines. Balderdash. (I might have used something stronger but this is a family newspaper).

You can make statistics say whatever you want with spin and a few percentage points. But the survey has at least done one thing: made us take stock of how lucky we are to live in this part of the world.

We sometimes take for granted that Huddersfield, despite its transitions, is still a handsome town surrounded by diverse suburbs, an infinite variety of villages and townships, and wonderful countryside. And that’s not to mention the people and the pubs.

If we have problems in a financial survey, maybe it’s because we are disadvantaged by geographical location. We are too far from Parliament for London-centric politicians to take notice.

Which is why I welcome the moves by the Yorkshire Devolution Movement and Yorkshire First who both want Yorkshire to have its own parliament.

George Osborne has declared his intention of promoting a Northern powerhouse based on cities.

These two organisations want it based on the old county boundaries, before local government reforms sliced bits off and gave Saddleworth to Greater Manchester.

Let’s reunite the North, East and West Ridings with South Yorkshire and sort out our own economy.

Nigel Sollitt, chairman of the YDM, said: “Yorkshire as an entity pre-dates Scotland and Wales and goes back to King Edwin in 626. We have 1,400 years of history and heritage.”

More than that, Yorkshire’s population of 5.3 million is slightly bigger than Scotland’s, which already has a parliament and wants independence.

A recent report said the north contributed 19 per cent — £266 billion — of the national economy in 2012, compared to 13 per cent for Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland combined.

Yorkshire and the Humber alone was responsible for 6.7 per cent (£93 billion).

Richard Carter, who is originally from Holmfirth, launched Yorkshire First with similar aims.

“London is like a Death Star, it sucks the energy, vitality and money out of the regions. The only way to address that is to start investing here.

“But it won’t happen unless we have a voice,” he said.

“We have a larger population than Scotland and an economy larger than Wales, but we don’t have the same powers of either of them.”

Maybe it’s time we did?