Hexham Courant 20th August

ELECTORAL COMMISSION MUST ABIDE BY RULES
Published on Friday, August 20th 2004

With reference your article "Campaigners have five weeks to go" (Courant, July 30) concerning the forthcoming referendum on an elected regional assembly, the Electoral Commission would like to clarify some points regarding the appointment of designated organisations.

All permitted participants can apply to become the designated organisation for their preferred outcome by submitting an application to seek designated status. Trade unions may well support a permitted participant, but this is not a prerequisite, or the sole determining factor for the designated organisation selection process, as some may have inferred from your report.

Applicants must show that they represent those campaigning for the specified outcome. If there is more than one applicant to be the designated organisation for each outcome, the Commission will designate whichever of the applicants appears to represent to the greatest extent those campaigning for that outcome.

However, the Commission is not required to designate a permitted participant if, in its view, none of the applicants adequately represents those campaigning for that outcome.

If the Commission is unable to designate a permitted participant for one of the outcomes, it cannot designate a permitted participant for any of the outcomes.

An application form and explanatory notes may be found at: www.regionalvote.com

Doug Stewart,Electoral Commission


OPEN DEBATE
Published on Friday, August 20th 2004

I AM very grateful that James Matthews (Courant, August 13) responded to my request for evidence on which negative comments about the establishment of regional assemblies were based.

I want a clear and open debate on the issue of regional government to allow people to make up their own minds over whether they feel it will be beneficial to the region.

What Mr Matthews doesn’t mention are the tangible benefits that would be brought by North-East regional devolution, some that I have already touched on, of an effectively co-ordinated transport policy, or of the development of the local rural economy, or of the attraction of inward investment to regenerate our market towns.

In short, opponents have nothing positive to say on the subject. It is a shame that the only argument of opponents of regional governmen is to use the cancellation of the ballots in the other two regions and they cannot argue about the real issues.

Of course, one of the real benefits would be that local decisions, affecting local people, would be made in the area by people who know them best.

Coming from London, this issue may never have been a problem for Mr Matthews, but for the people of the North-East there is clearly a democratic deficit which needs to be addressed. KEVIN GRAHAM,Labour Party Parliamentary Spokesperson for Hexham,c/o Eldon House,Regent Centre,Newcastle upon Tyne.

ALLEGIANCE
Published on Friday, August 20th 2004

LAST month it was reported that a group of North East business leaders had launched a campaign against an elected Regional Assembly.
The list of names made interesting reading.

A number of them, in recent years, donated well over £200,000 to the Conservative Party.There is nothing wrong with this but your readers are entitled to know the political affiliations of the group.There are, of course, many business people who are backing the YES campaign.

GORDON ADAM,Palmersville,Forest Hall,Newcastle upon Tyne

TALK SHOP
Published on Friday, August 20th 2004

CURRENTLY Scotland is allocated by Central Government significantly more per head for such things as education, transport and roads, tourism and police than the North-East.

It dates back to a time when Government wanted a carrot to achieve devolution in both Scotland and Wales.

Indeed, according to the NO Campaign web site, if the North-East got the same funding as Scotland we would get direct control over £1.3 billion per year rather than the £350 million proposed for the new Assembly.

Despite the fact that the £350 million budget only represents a derisory two per cent of expenditure spent by Government in the region, they have refused to correct this anomaly.

So no carrot, no level playing field for an area selected politically to lead the rest of England into the European Union’s plan to regionalise UK into 12 separate regions.

Past history of local government reorganisations and the recent massive overspends in Scotland, Wales and London plus the fact my own rates have risen by 70 per cent since 1997 suggest little prospect of any extra money, in fact the reverse.

The indications are that the Assembly will be nothing but an expensive talking shop based in a politician’s palace in Durham, where incidentally the YES Campaign headquarters are based.

Will we get better local democracy? Certainly not, for 25 assembly members means one member for every 100,000 people. For Tynedale, that means half a representative!
L.T. GRAHAM,Elvaston Park Road,Hexham