HERE'S a challenge for David Cameron and his Bullingdon Club sidekick George Osborne. Instead of heading south to Cornwall, Portugal or Lanzarote for your holidays this year, come north to York instead.

The Government launched a PR campaign last week urging more Britons to visit flood-hit areas of the north of England for their holidays.

We welcome that. But how nice it would be to see Mr Cameron and Mr Osborne leading by example.

And we don't just mean visiting the in-laws at Sutton Park, Mr Cameron. We mean staying in an honest-to-goodness York hotel or B&B, eating in local restaurants, and visiting local attractions such as the NRM, the Castle Museum and the Eye of York.

There would be photo-opportunities galore - and what a great way to prove to the world that the north really is open for business again.

It isn't just our idea. The challenge was issued by Rob Payne, boss of York-based Best Western hotels.

The city's hotels lost an estimated £1 million in January alone due to the floods, Mr Payne said. But staff in York were just ready and waiting to take the PM's booking, he added cheekily.

It wouldn't even cost the Prime Minister that much to get here.

Virgin Trains have announced they are knocking 30 per cent off the price of advance tickets for the East Coast line, to try to attract tourists back north.

The deal was announced by Mr Cameron's culture secretary John Whittingdale, who was visiting York to see how the city's tourism businesses were coping.

It was nice to see you, Mr Whittingdale. Have you thought of spending your holidays here?