Back in April we submitted written evidence to the House of Lords Constitution Committee for their Inquiry into the Future Governance of the UK. The purpose of the inquiry is to explore “how power can best be shared within the UK to establish stable and effective governance arrangements throughout the UK for the 21st century.” Whilst exploring this is useful, actually achieving it would, of course, require changes to be implemented by Government. To that end, we have drawn up a list of changes that our Members demand of Government in order to achieve the best way to share power within the UK, as described in the purpose of the inquiry, and we welcome Members’ feedback in respect of this.
The Demands:
- A) Current Lieutenancies (ceremonial counties) in England to be abolished and Traditional Counties to become the geography of new Lieutenancies. B) The Traditional Counties/new Lieutenancies of England to be arranged into new County Regions, either singularly eg, Yorkshire, or in clusters, eg, Westmorland, Lancashire & Cheshire together, as agreed between the people of the Traditional Counties. No geography imposed by Govt!
- Each new County Region of England to be granted devolution as a single, integral entity.
- The model of devolution (Parliament, Mayor etc) of each new County Region to be decided by the people of each new County Region. No model imposed by Govt!
- All Nation/County Regions of UK to have equal powers devolved to them. End the disparity of powers!
- All Nation/County Regions of UK to have equitable Govt funding on a £ per head of population basis. End the disparity of funding!
- Replace the House of Lords with a House of Nation/County Regions where each Nation/County Region is represented equitably.
- Elections for UK Parliament and governmental bodies at all sub-levels throughout the UK to be on the basis of Single Transferable Vote or other method of proportional representation. Make all votes count!
- The UK to adopt the principle of subsidiarity through all levels of governance so that decisions can be made and implemented at the appropriate level without having to consult a higher level.
- Participative Democracy to be implemented at all levels throughout the UK. Engage the people in the process of making decisions on the matters that affect them.
- The foregoing demands to be entrenched in a written constitution, compiled by the people, to which every elected government is subject.
Elements of the foregoing list of Demands have been included by the Centre for Welfare Reform in a project, using the hashtag, #EndWestminsterRule, to produce a Citizens Charter aimed at transferring powers from Westminster to regional parliaments throughout the UK.
So, those points were really good. On the different Provinces (or whatever the constituent territories would be called) I do have my own idea, but I think most people do. I like the idea of reforming the Lords into a house tied to the Provinces although I’d probably say that reform is preferable to replacement (Lord Norton has done some good stuff on that). On the codified constitution I have my reservations and think that federalism could be achieved without it but it would still require a bill or series of bills being added to our current constitutional framework. All good though guys and happy to answer any questions.
Thanks for your feedback, Luke.
We would be interested in hearing your ideas in respect of your comments on “the different Provinces”; “reform is preferable to replacement” re HoL; and your “reservations” re codified constitution and federalism. Please e.mail these to YorkshireDM@outlook.com if you would like to share them with us.
Regards,
YDM Admin