Gareth at the CEP News Blog has rightly pointed out that I have abdicated my responsibilities in declaring the folly of English Votes on English Matters (EVoEM).
I suggest any Tory (or not) who is reading this and thinks that either the status quo or EVoEM is a satisfactory way to run a democratic country (England), read Gareth’s excellent list.
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December 10th, 2005 at 12:14 pm
local votes for local people!
December 10th, 2005 at 2:00 pm
That depends entirely on what you mean by local! Regional assemblies are a government and EU construct which I, and most English people, do not want.
December 12th, 2005 at 12:20 pm
That’s because regional assemblies don’t match the patterns of our communities. Their regions are arbitrary constructs created by bureaucrats.
We identify ourselves in terms of parishes (although people may not think of them as such), towns and counties. These are the units that have evolved over time, and within which our communities operate. True localism would devolve power back down to these units.
December 12th, 2005 at 4:10 pm
Absolutely. Civic spirit and football supporting exists because people identify with their town or area. They do not, in the strongest terms, identify with Regions.
December 13th, 2005 at 4:32 pm
I think the artificial adminsitrative areas that replaced some counties stand in testimony to that, with Avon being the prime example. That was never popular with the people who lived there, many of whom regretted the removal of the “county” title from the city of Bristol, while many people in parts of Gloucestershire and Somerset that were included in Avon felt they had been cut off from their traditional counties. In particular there was a long-running campaign to return Weston-Super-Mare to Somerset.
Despite there being a fairly strong rational basis (it was conterminous with the Bristol ‘Travel to Work Area’ defined since the 50s/60s for planning purposes) it didn’t appeal to the hearts and minds if its inhabitants and so failed.
Why would regional assemblies be any different?