So many Noes to pick from

Daily Telegraph
21st October

North-East voters must say 'No' to Westminster(Filed: 21/10/2004)

If you are one of the two and a half million people who live in Teesside, Tyne and Wear, Northumberland and Durham, you will be able to vote over the next fortnight in a postal ballot on whether you want a new assembly for the North-East. Our advice is to say: no, thanks very much.

Regional devolution was the brainchild of John Prescott, the Deputy Prime Minister, and, truth be told, there is a certain symmetry to the idea. After all, if Scotland, Wales and London have their own assemblies, what about the people of England, who make up the bulk of the country?
The situation is particularly galling because Cardiff and Edinburgh depend on subsidies from English taxpayers.

But the more one considers how devolution actually works, the clearer it is that regional assemblies are just expensive talking shops, which are great fun for politicians, but a disappointment for everyone else.

There is plenty of evidence for this. Both the Welsh and Scottish parliaments have come in fantastically over-budget and, in London, council taxpayers are steadily paying more every year in order to fund Ken Livingstone.
He has also built a lavish new building and is spending with abandon on buses and other pet projects, including an extravagant bid for the Olympics. Genuine devolution - which this newspaper would support - should be based on real powers handed down to the local level, and not the creation of yet another layer of government.

The polls indicate that the effective "No'' campaign in the North-East, mostly run by local businessmen, is winning. If its supporters turn out and it does triumph when ballot papers are counted on November 4, this would be a surprising and dramatic result. Until recently, the received wisdom has been that the Government would get its way, as usual.
A "No'' would resonate widely across the country and send a powerful message to Westminster, which all political parties would have to heed. Obviously, regional assemblies elsewhere would be halted in their tracks.

But more importantly, it would demonstrate that the electorate is increasingly distrustful of the growing ranks of professional politicians. Instead, voters want to be governed by people with integrity, who are prudent with public money and who deliver on their promises.
Today's release by the parliamentary authorities of MPs' expenses claims - which could prove rather embarrassing to some - is likely to add fuel to the fire.

Teesdale Mercury
Ran a poll from last week, the results of which were in this weeks edition. The question was "Would an elected Assembly assist Teesdale", results were - 80% No, 12% Yes, 8% undecided.