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Regional Devolution - more than an English Issue
#1
There seems to be a consensus of opinion that the question of devolution in Scotland and Wales is finished - though with the possible question of when will Scotland go for full independence.  I would submit in fact that this is far from the case.  If we are to argue for the devolution of powers to the regions of England we must in all fairness also support the devolution of powers to the regions of then other nations inside the United Kingdom.  It is all too easy to take Scotland and Wales as single national entities without internal regions.  They are not, and we need to support devolution for the regions within within all the nations of the United Kingdom.
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#2
I definitely would agree with further devolution to the regions of Scotland and Wales and a broad alliance to help bring this about. Definitely in Scotland there are campaigners for greater devolution to the Scottish regions.

When it comes to devolution from England, I would be interested to know what format the Liberal Party wishes to usher this is. Would it be on the Westminster and EU imposed geographical regions based on European Parliamentary constituencies, or possibly something more akin to the fabric of England and working on the basics of original regions such as Wessex, Mercia, Yorkshire, East Anglia etc.
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#3
I like the format based on the original regions, as stone de croze suggests local identity and not being forced on people such as with the proposed Sheffield region where 9 surrounding councils are being pulled together not sure people in Matlock will like that, what do other people think? Lets have a debate?
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#4
Yes, let's have a debate, that is the whole purpose of this board.

Personnally I prefer the idea of regions for England based on the old Kingdoms of England.  Wessex, Mercia, Northumbria, etc.  In my opinion the regions should be based on the regional identity of the people who make it up.  

We must also recognise that there can be different levels of devolution, so some powers may be devolved to a regional levels, whilst other to an area within that region and other down to a town or parish level.  The basic rule should be that a power should be devolved to the lowest level of government that is able to support
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#5
If we are to stop the Union breaking up then we need full devolution for the regions. Cornwall has a strong case for devolution, but in other areas, I believe that the issue is more muddied. A devolved West Midlands sounds good in practice, but Shropshire has more in common with the Welsh borders and Hereford than it has with Birmingham.
A politician is a person with whose politics you don't agree; if you agree with him he's a statesman. (David Lloyd George).
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#6
I think Shropshire is a good example of some of the problems we could face in regional devolution but I also think there is a simple answer there. It and Hereford are really part of the Welsh Border Country.

The basic rule should be that power should be devolved to a level where there is a clear geographic entity that has a pronounced common civic and cultural identity. Though I suspect that might give grounds for splitting the Black Country off from the Birmingham centric West Midlands - which might be a good thing anyway.
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#7

I agree. The recent moves for the Black Country to work with Birmingham as an economic area has caused some raised eyebrows in the area. I think the Black Country can well afford to work on its own as a group, with Birmingham and Coventry working together.
A politician is a person with whose politics you don't agree; if you agree with him he's a statesman. (David Lloyd George).
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#8
How about someone producing a tentative map of these proposed regions? I worry about my preference for leaving the EU threatening the survival of the UK. Smaller regions within and across Scotland and Wales could be helpful. My family come originally from Orkney, whose people I imagine would not be pleased to be taken away from the UK by the rest of Scotland wanting to remain within the EU, if they do.

I also wonder, on a related subject, what we will call the UK when, as I hope, we become a Republic with an elected non-executive President.
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#9

I have friends in Orkney and I gather there has been some talk about leaving Scotland if Scotland decides to leave the UK. The question seems to be do they join with England or go back to Norway?
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#10
Dane asked:

How about someone producing a tentative map of these proposed regions?

Well here is one for starters, let's see how the discussion goes from here!

Sorry about the small size but there is a 500K limit on attachments.


Attached Files
.gif   Britain-regions-map.gif (Size: 407.94 KB / Downloads: 2)
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