Labour Policy Watch: Devolution and Regional Government

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Devolution and Regional Government
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	The Tories' interest in "subsidiarity" applied to devolving powers from Europe to the UK but not from the UK to its nations and regions. They opposed any increased self-government in Scotland and Wales, and were linked with the Unionist tradition in Northern Ireland. They established Government Offices for the Regions, but only because some EU funding has to be channelled through regional bodies, and these were unelected quangos making decisions over public money at private meetings. They allowed market forces to create increasing disparities between the regions, an effect best known as the north-south divide.
	Labour policy was:
	1	To establish a Scottish Parliament with legislative and tax-raising (?) powers
	2	To establish a Welsh Assembly with ?
	3	To devolve power to elected regional assemblies, bringing decisions over regional funding under democratic control, and to have Regional Development Agencies (RDAs) to encourage investment
	4	To distribute economic activity more evenly across the country
	In fact under New Labour:
	1	There is a Scottish Parliament though Labour promised at the referendum not to raise taxes
	2	There is a Welsh Assembly but with limited legislative and no tax-raising powers
	3	Elected regional assemblies were offered with few powers, mostly centralised from local authorities rather than devolved from Westminster, and this was rejected in a referendum in the north-east. Assemblies now have some members indirectly elected, and RDAs are still quangos meeting in secret
	4	The north-south divide has not been tackled, and Scotland and the north of England are depopulating while green-belt land has to be built on in the south-east. The north has far more "hidden unemployed" and the life expectancy gap is widening
	In addition:
		Tony Blair compared the tax-raising powers of the Scottish Parliament with a parish council's
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