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Is It Time That Northern England Has Its Own Assembly ?

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Over the years their has been talk of having an Northern Assembly or parliament but has nothing come of it. An new party called ' Northern Independence Party ' thinks it's time for the North to break away drastic action in response to Westminster's rule. Personally  I am struggling to see how an independent North could work or survive economically but who knows it could be fun or not. Perhaps a more realistic way forward is an assembly with wide ranging powers just leaving the national government to do foreign policy, defence and other national level affairs.  Do you think the North needs an assembly if so what would you want from it and what areas should it cover ?

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I think the real question is: Should the UK be properly federalised. Do away with the daft discrepancies between the national (Wales/Scotland/NI) governmental rights and make the whole country up out of ten federal states united under a clear constitution. 

 

(The nation states and six federal parts of England)

 

Each area its own federal government, with the national government in charge of defence, national infrastructure, monetary policy, international affairs. Just campaigning for the North to have its own 'assembly' doesn't really solve the underlying issues. 

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Not entirely sure that I would suppport full independence but I'd be open to be persuaded. 

 

It's clear that the increasing centralisation of power in Westminster isn't working for anywhere other than the south east and maybe not really there either.  If people are serious about saving the union then we radical reform of our constitutional arrangements.  

 

a) a proper written constitution 

b) a federal solution for the 4 nations with proper devolution of powers to each country and westminster becoming a federal parliament dealing only with genuinely uk wide matters. Whether the england mp's in westminster could also form a parliament for england or whether england needs a separate elected parliament would be something to explore.  

c) further devolution of powers to the regions, with elected regional assemblies to exercise the powers which make sense at a regional level along with further devolution of powers to councils of powers which should be exercised locally. 

 

 

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On the whole I think division causes complications, but the North should certainly have better and stronger representation. It's like a different country to the south, (south-east?) with its own problems and situations that the south haven't a clue about.

Edited by Anna B

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I would agree with the South especially London been like an different country. When I was younger I travelled around the country including the South coast visiting Brighton, Eastbourne right along too Margate and not wanting to miss out visited  London  it really felt different to the North. I found the South to be more conservative in views but I'm sure not all think alike. Kernow better know to all as Cornwall seem to feel different again with a strong cultural identity to the point they have an political party that until recent times wanted an independent Cornwall.  In the North their seems to be a feeling of left behind or feeling like forgotten people I do think we need an strong voice that needs to be heard not token ideas like moving government departments up North to look like Westminster cares it miss the point totally so I would support an Assembly of the North with powers that are meaningful not just an talking shop. 

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10 minutes ago, West 77 said:

Most certainly no.  The last thing we need is another layer of Government. We have northern  elected MPs to represent the northern region in the Westminster Parliament. I would like to see the Scottish Parliament and the Welsh Assembly abolished.  There are Scottish and Welsh elected MPs in the Westminster Parliament.  No need for anything else.

I don't think many Scots would be very happy to lose their parliament nor the Welsh lose their assembly. Your point ' no need for anything else ' would be all good in an equal union but many in the UK don't feel heard by the centralised Westminster parliament with it's self serving MPs. It's time for an major change in the UK .

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16 hours ago, West 77 said:

Most certainly no.  The last thing we need is another layer of Government. We have northern  elected MPs to represent the northern region in the Westminster Parliament. I would like to see the Scottish Parliament and the Welsh Assembly abolished.  There are Scottish and Welsh elected MPs in the Westminster Parliament.  No need for anything else.

and here was me thinking you were a supporter of democracy., westminster was never able to represent the wishes of the scottish, and welsh voters even less when they stopped electing a significant number of MPs from the governing party. 

 

you may want to exist in some 1850s imperial fantasy world but the rest of the universe has moved on and it's time the union does too. 

 

The only way to maintain the union is for it to become a federation , consisting of 4 equal soverign parliaments with westminster becoming the federal parliament dealing only with  matters affecting the entire union. Within their various competencies each parliament would be co-equal no layers needed. 

 

Obviously, there would be fewer MPs in Westminster, Though there would be an English Parliament representing England and the House of Lords would become a senate largely made up of elected senators from the whole union. I do think it would be a shame to lose the experts who curently serve as life peers and it would be good for the union if  there was a transparent and independent process for acknowledged experts in key fields to be appointed senators.  

 

This model would give NI a third option for it's future which would allow it to continue to exist and also to develop in it's own unique way. 

 

Within this model then there certainly should be the return of appropriate powers from the national parliaments to local authorities. WIthin this, there is certainly benefit in local authorities working together for the general good and economies of scale to be had. It could all be done on an ad-hoc project by project basis but I think it would eventually reach the point where a formal body to manage this was needed. Regional assemblies would also provide a forum where national agencies like the Environment Agency and federal departments could be held to account for the local provision of services. They could, if necesesary absorb many of the functions of county and district councils leading to a much flatter arrangement and clear definition of who does what. 

 

 

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4 hours ago, andyofborg said:

and here was me thinking you were a supporter of democracy., westminster was never able to represent the wishes of the scottish, and welsh voters even less when they stopped electing a significant number of MPs from the governing party. 

 

you may want to exist in some 1850s imperial fantasy world but the rest of the universe has moved on and it's time the union does too. 

 

The only way to maintain the union is for it to become a federation , consisting of 4 equal soverign parliaments with westminster becoming the federal parliament dealing only with  matters affecting the entire union. Within their various competencies each parliament would be co-equal no layers needed. 

 

Obviously, there would be fewer MPs in Westminster, Though there would be an English Parliament representing England and the House of Lords would become a senate largely made up of elected senators from the whole union. I do think it would be a shame to lose the experts who curently serve as life peers and it would be good for the union if  there was a transparent and independent process for acknowledged experts in key fields to be appointed senators.  

 

This model would give NI a third option for it's future which would allow it to continue to exist and also to develop in it's own unique way. 

 

Within this model then there certainly should be the return of appropriate powers from the national parliaments to local authorities. WIthin this, there is certainly benefit in local authorities working together for the general good and economies of scale to be had. It could all be done on an ad-hoc project by project basis but I think it would eventually reach the point where a formal body to manage this was needed. Regional assemblies would also provide a forum where national agencies like the Environment Agency and federal departments could be held to account for the local provision of services. They could, if necesesary absorb many of the functions of county and district councils leading to a much flatter arrangement and clear definition of who does what. 

 

 

I don't think West 77 quite up on the modern world but never mind. But I suspect such thinking is common in halls of Westminster. The UK government slams other hardline regimes across the world but never looks at itself and fails to understand why their are calls for more say in places like northern England or across the border in Scotland. The Tories especially hate to share power after all they believe it's their right to rule - unquestioned that is.

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Guest makapaka

We’re a tiny little blot on the world map.

 

little tiny island.

 

the fact that a nation like ours needs to even talk about a north / south divide - which stretches only hundreds of miles - is a disgrace.

 

we don’t need an assembly / we just need fairness.

 

 

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1 hour ago, West 77 said:

Get a grip man.  You live in North England and not North Korea. I don't want to see more taxpayer's money wasted on creating local assemblies or whatever you want to call them.  We have 650 MPs (less Sinn Fein/IRA)  who sit in the Westminster Parliament  that  represent all the regions throughout the UK.

LOL we soon be North Korea if left it's to Johnson and his merry mates. Like I have said before if all is well and good in the union why are people even thinking about the idea? On the subject of wasting public money Johnson has decided his new Washington style press room is no longer required it only cost £2.6 million small change I suppose. 

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3 hours ago, GabrielC said:

LOL we soon be North Korea if left it's to Johnson and his merry mates.

Yeah, just like that other old chestnut "Tories will privatise the NHS"

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