- guardian.co.uk, Saturday November 6 2004 01.57 GMT
The clear message from the north east (North-east rejects Prescott's devolution plan, November 5) is that people want to have efficient democratic institutions of local government with the power to allow local communities to set their own priorities. This is not a vote for centralised administration from London or for the unelected quangos that command too much power and public money.
Ministers must now consider the crucial role of local government in providing democratic accountability and a means of joining up public services. This means an end to ill-considered proposals that drain power from local communities and their elected representatives, such as setting up single purpose boards. Similarly, we need to challenge the unaccountable quango state, including the regional quangos, to see what can be devolved to elected local government.
Dennis Reed
Chief executive, Local Government Information Unit
I believe in a north-east regional assembly, but I voted no because the proposed assembly had no powers. The government persisted with postal voting - even after the electoral commission had recommended all postal votes be suspended - because it thought the region was the area most likely to vote yes. The exercise was a cynical piece of political opportunism, which backfired.
The no vote has prevented a regional assembly in the north-east by law for at least seven years, but, if you look at the Scottish example, more likely a generation.
Glenn Bowen
Newcastle upon Tyne
It has not been a great week for rationality. This wasn't just a blow for Blair's government - it was a vote against politics and the very idea of democratic government. In this anti-intellectual climate, the chances of a yes vote in a referendum on the EU is pretty remote.
Andy Croft
Middlesbrough
Substantial powers have already been devolved to "the regions", to the regional development agencies. The agencies advance a narrow model of regional economic development, with little regard for social or environmental considerations. Every year, the government gives them new powers, more money and new areas of responsibility - from rural delivery to tourism.
Elected regional assemblies would have acted as a counterbalance, championing "sustainable" rather than "economic" development.
Mark Mabon
Bristol
A radical third-term Labour government would devolve equal powers to four country parliaments: England, Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales. It would then bind them in to a senior, fully elected, house of representatives. All MEPs would have to give up their monthly Strasbourg sojourn and instead have to report back to their own parliaments. In this way we would create a connected UK constitution while ensuring an EU version was subservient to it.
Derek Wyatt MP
Lab, Sittingbourne & Sheppey
In the end the margin against was an enormous 56%. But the people of the north-east were not asked to vote for devolution (even on the limited scale of London). They were not being offered powers on any significant scale, just a feeble but lucrative talking shop for an elite group of (mainly Labour) politicians in the region.
It is surely time for people who believe in local democracy and genuine devolution (real subsidiarity if you like) to have a complete rethink of what we want and how we get it. Lib Dem policy proposals are a good starting point, but we now need to go much further if we are ever to re verse the stifling centralising forces which grip this country firmer every day.
Tony Greaves
Lib Dem, House of Lords
The resounding no vote should come as no surprise. Only 23% of us claim to trust politicians and while just under 60% voted at the last election. Our own research suggests this is not an expression of lack of interest so much as a sign that members of the public feel disconnected from our political system. This cannot be resolved by simply offering people another tier of power, where politicians just talk to each other rather than engaging the public. People need to be offered meaningful chances to get involved in politics at a local, regional and national level. Without this, trust in our political institutions will remain at a dangerously low level.
Vidya Ram
Hansard Society
When I lived in the north-east, in the dark Thatcherite days of the 1980s, there would have been strong approval for a regional assembly with teeth. The region had no political clout, as its Labour MPs could be ignored and the Tories in government nationally were quite happy to let the region rot.
What need is there now? There is no political vacuum, as so many leading MPs, including the prime minister, have constituencies in the region. The trouble is that if the political representation they have nationally is in theory the best they can get, there is no real incentive to have an extra layer of New Labour politicians, singing from the same hymn-sheet, and without any real political powers.
Dr Colin Crouch Harrow Weald
Middx
