David Sumberg MEP
Date:
09\05\2002
DEVOLUTION WILL BUTCHER NORTH WEST
North West Euro MP David Sumberg is warning the Government’s white paper on regional government will butcher the region.
He said the paper threatened to brutally carve up the North West abolishing county councils like Cheshire, Lancashire and Cumbria in favour of a regional assembly.
"The Government claims this White Paper is about the devolution of power, but that is simply not the case,” he said. “ This is about breaking the United Kingdom up into administrative units as set out by bureaucrats in Brussels. And as it will go to a referendum the North West needs to be wary of the Labour Millbank spin machine going into overdrive trying to sell this dangerous idea.”
Mr Sumberg said the White Paper would result in:
· The abolition of historic Shire Counties.
· A series of referenda on Regional Assemblies across England, drawn up to match the administrative regions created by the EU.
· Letting the Regions deal directly with Brussels, thus bypassing Westminster scrutiny of EU expenditure and diminishing national sovereignty
· The merging of existing Local Councils into "super-authorities " taking Government further away from the people
Mr Sumberg said he believed councils were best placed to govern areas in an accountable efficient manner.
"A North West regional assembly will provide yet another tier of over expensive over blown bureaucracy,” he said. "It is no coincidence that this paper follows hot on the heels of an EU White Paper on Regional Governance released last autumn. That laid out the blueprint for a Europe of the Regions, with nation states like the United Kingdom relegated to the sidelines.”
"Today, the Labour Government has shown that it has swallowed Romano Prodi's vision of a federal Europe hook, line and sinker. Is it any wonder that they chose 'Europe Day' for its release?"