North East votes No to "pig in a poke" Assembly
05 November 2004
"With a resounding 78% No vote, the people of the North East have rejectedan elected regional assembly, and with that have put paid to any form ofelected regional government in England, outside London for the next 25years"
Cllr Nic Best, Green Party Spokesperson for Regional Affairs summed up theresult, and said:
"But how many of the people voting know that decisions will continue beingtaken at a regional level:
- by One NorthEast, the regional development agency whose Board isappointed by and answerable to the DTI in London
- by the Government Office of the North East, which remains a bastion ofWhitehall within the region
- and by the existing unelected Regional Assembly, made up of localgovernment appointees and placemen?"
"We have and will continue to have regional government in the North East,voting No does not mean that powers will be returned to the localauthorities, it just means that decisions will continue to be made byunaccountable QUANGOs."
He concluded:
"Widespread popular support for the principle of an elected regionalassembly for the North East was effectively wasted by government'sreluctance to devolve any real powers and their insistence on inappropriatelinkage to local government reform. They now have a regional agenda thatcontinues to be controlled from Whitehall, which probably suits them fine."
