Yes vote for devolution has nationwide implications
Oct 2 2004
Reading the letters page of The Journal one is made aware of the vacillation between the Yes and No camps in the so-called devolution debate.
No-one is being properly informed. Criticism of the 74pc No survey may be justifiable: but it is an acknowledged fact that surveys are notoriously unreliable.
A nationwide poll may involve no more than a handful of people, relatively speaking.
How can, say, 4,000 possibly represent 40,000? So your survey does have credence, even though the Yes devotees have rubbished it.
One point to consider - and consider well. Posterity may not look kindly upon a Yes vote if the rest of Little England is forced to follow the same path. Your decision has nationwide implications.
Take utmost care.
JOHN WARMINGHAM
Best to say `no' to assembly while we have a choice
WHY on earth do we need the expense of another layer of administration and control in the form of an elected regional assembly?
For what we pay dearly we already have an elected parliament in Brussels, an elected parliament in London, an elected county council, an elected city council, and an elected parish council.
At election times all promise to serve us faithfully, once elected all they do is lord it over us, and impose their will upon us.
For the rest of us, we are living in this "Plastic Paradise", created by this present Government who have led us into a trillion pound debt, there will be more of the same, from a regional assembly.
To justify its existence there will be another list of "must dos" and "must not dos", and we are already swamped in legislation.
Once installed, however, much as we show our disapproval by not voting, it's there for keeps. I have not read of any mechanism for its removal.
As this assembly grows in size and power, as it surely will, we will be told to pay more and more for its upkeep. Best to say no, while we have a choice.
JOHN LOWRIE,
County Durham.
Keep-off rule
Oct 2 2004
By The Journal
A North-East council has told the official `yes' and `no' campaigns to keep off its land during the run-up to the North-East assembly referendum.
North Tyneside Council says neither campaign will be allowed a formal presence on public property in the borough before the November 4 referendum.
Conservative elected mayor Linda Arkley explained: "We felt that people were not interested. They have already received quite a lot of literature from both sides." Yes4theNorthEast Campaign director Ross Forbes said he was saddened by the decision:
A spokesman for North-East Says No said: "This sounds very odd."
Middlesbrough Evening Gazette
Quango rings a bell
Oct 1 2004
By Evening Gazette
John Prescott's remarks in the debate on the proposed Regional Assembly reported in the Gazette confirmed my doubts about the wisdom of voting Yes.
You report him as saying the aim was to give responsibilities to elected people. It was a question of giving people in the North-east more effective control over areas such as housing policy and economic development. Powers on planning and housing would be devolved to an assembly.
It is only a few months ago that the Government told Middlesbrough Council they would not be allowed to raise money for housing repairs and renovations. But if the council transferred its housing stock to a housing association that association would have such powers.
The council asked tenants to vote but left no doubts as to the consequences if they voted against the transfer.
Prescott also said that powers would be transferred from quangos to the assembly.
The housing association to which Middlesbrough Council, under Government pressure, transferred its housing, is a quango.
He says quangos are not accountable to the electors. But they are accountable to Government Ministers, including John Prescott.
In reply to a question on the problems associated with the postal voting system he acknowledged there were allegations of fraud elsewhere, but not in the North-east and so he had decided we will use postal voting. How illogical can you get?
Whether or not there is evidence of fraud in the North-east in the past is irrelevant. What is relevant is the fact that postal voting is open to fraud.
On the basis of John Prescott's remarks I smell a rat and I wouldn't touch a regional assembly with a barge pole.
BERT WARD, Linthorpe, Middlesbrough
THE last paragraph of the letter from Eric Firth encapsulates the real reason behind the Regional Assembly project. Were it to be successful, a North East assembly would be the thin end of a wedge used to destroy England as a country and the English as a race.
The end product would be a European socialist superstate with powers equally as draconian as anything witnessed in the USSR and China under communism and in Europe under national socialism.
European legislation along with the Civil Contingencies Bill will allow politicians and some individuals in positions of power and influence, unlimited power over the lives of the people of this country with complete immunity for their actions.
The idea that another layer of local politicians will improve the lot of the people in this region says much for having the Prime Minister as an elected representative in the area.
Of the high profile supporters of the assembly how many will have to live with the consequences?
The showbusiness elements are unlikely to pay more than a flying visit to the area usually for a photo opportunity or work, the businessmen probably have much to gain on a personal level before they retire to the Iberian peninsula to spend their retirement on the golf course and, as for the remainder, they would no doubt make sufficient from their involvement in the project to enable their retirement to more desirable surroundings.
P ALLAN, Middlesbrough
Northern Echo
Saturday 2nd October
Assembly likely to get powers on region's roads
by Tony Kearney
THE proposed regional assembly for the North-East looks increasingly likely to be given the power to complete the dualling of the A1, The Northern Echo can reveal.
The Government is thought to be on the verge of agreeing to hand over the running of the region's roads to the assembly by transferring powers from the Highways Authority.
The move would leave the assembly responsible for the upkeep of the region's network of trunk roads, give it the power to order the upgrade of roads such as the A1 and those stretches of the A66 that fall inside the North-East, and give it control of an annual roads budget worth tens of millions of pounds a year.
It is understood that the Government came within a whisker of agreeing to transfer the Highways Agency's functions in the summer, but ran out of Parliamentary time ahead of the publication of the draft Regional Assemblies' Bill in July.
It now looks likely that the new powers will be included in the full Bill, which will be published later this year if November 4's referendum delivers a Yes result.
During a visit to Durham City yesterday, the Liberal Democrats' regional affairs spokesman Ed Davey MP, who has been closely involved in the negotiations over the role of the proposed assembly, indicated that even if the new powers are not included in the Government Bill, his party would use the House of Lords to try to force through an amendment transferring the powers.
"We are arguing that the Highways Agency should be given over to the assembly," he said.
"The Secretary of State for Transport appears to be responding to the view that a stronger say on transport will assist the assembly.
"I would be very surprised if those powers are not in the Bill and I think we can use our position in the Lords to ensure there are more powers."
The news was last night welcomed by Professor John Tomaney, chairman of Yes 4 The North East, who said: "If the LibDems stick to this commitment, and we have no reason to believe they won't, then clearly a Yes vote will produce the powers we need to tackle the region's major transport problems."
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