Guardian Readers offside as well!

The Guardian
25th October 2004
Letters

A north-east assembly will not work
The Guardian Your endorsement of a north-east regional assembly (Leaders, October 23) is based on a false premise: what seems, perhaps, a "strong sense of identity" is, on the ground, a very distinct set of inter-regional identities, often at odds with one another. A regional assembly would most likely be dominated by the voices and concerns of Newcastle, to the detriment both of urban Teesside and rural Durham and Northumberland.
As a Teessider currently living in western North Carolina, I've seen the effects of being a neglected outpost of regional government. A more sensible option would be to strengthen local government structures in those areas where common interests outweigh regional rivalries. Let's save the open antipathy seen at Tyne-Tees-Wear derby matches for a few Saturdays each year. Nick SweeneyAsheville, N Carolina, USA

I have been an advocate of a north-east assembly for more than 20 years. But I would go further and create a federal Britain in which parliament did little more than run foreign affairs and defence, leaving regions to do the rest. But I will be voting no.
What sways me is the local Labour party in action. The north-east assembly concept was a reaction against rule from London - a statement that we have our own way.
The problem is the evidence. Our local politicians have no distinctive agenda. Our MPs are the most enthusiastic supporters of Blairite privatisation, and north-east councils have been the most enthusias tic at selling off their council housing stock and embracing the private finance initiative on everything from schools to streetlighting.
Stephen Townsley Gateshead

Your support for a yes vote in the north-east assembly referendum is misguided. Far from being a move to decentralisation and localism, this is a move to concentrate power in the centre and remove it from the people.
It will involve, for all non-urban areas, the abolition of one of the current tiers of government, and replace it with an assembly which will gain no extra powers from Whitehall, but which will, indeed, be further constrained by Whitehall veto powers.
Mark AustinMorden, Surrey