Northeast England Votes “No” on Regional Assembly

Tony Blair has done more good for the British constitutional structure than any of his 20th Century predecessors. However, there comes a point when one as reformed as much as one ought. Last Thursday, his over-reach was spotted and reversed by the people of Northeast England, who decided they didn’t want the regional assembly he had offered them. By a vote of 78% to 22%. If he won’t resign for taking his country into a war without just cause, perhaps he can at least quit tinkering with the constitution now.

Devolution is not an inherently bad idea for many European states. It has helped keep the peace in Spain, and the Italians could benefit from giving the North and Sicily their own chambers to debate local issues. In the British Isles, devolution (or Home Rule as Charles Stewart Parnell called it) could have saved two or three generations of Irish from civil strife has it been enacted in the 1880s.

Mr. Blair came into office promising a Scottish and Welsh Assembly, both of which now exist. He has vowed to reform the House of Lords, and despite some wailing and gnashing of teeth among the toffs, he has done just that. But when he decided to continue reforms by giving northern areas their own elected regional assemblies (currently their appointed), he failed to note one very simple thing – the folk up north already had counties to which they felt some loyalty. To judge the depth of feeling, try referring to a fellow from Yorkshire as a Geordie. After spitting out a few teeth, the mistake will not be repeated.

Yet, rather than build on this by giving county councils real power, Mr. Blair decided to add another layer of government to the tune of £25 million a year. The Northeast’s regional assembly would be the first of many, until England was a federal entity. The people decided that they don’t really even like the existing assembly, and voting in another bunch of politicians wouldn’t make them like it any more.

There’s nothing wrong with local people solving local problems in their local government. It’s the most sensible way, and it results in the most responsive form of government. If Mr. Blair insists on fiddling with the constitution some more, he can empower existing institutions at the expense of Whitehall rather than create something artificial to which no one has any loyalties. There are people in Humberside who still call their part of the world Yorkshire – the March 31, 1974 change meant nothing to them. And Leicestershire is much harder to spell than the late and lamented County of Rutland.


© Copyright 2004 by The Kensington Review, J. Myhre, Editor. No part of this publication may be reproduced without written consent.


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