Lib Dems Launch Proposals for Regional Government for Yorkshire and the Humber

12.00.00am GMT Fri 1st Mar 2002

In Huddersfield at their Regional Conference tomorrow (Saturday 2nd March) Diana Wallis MEP will launch draft proposals from the Liberal Democrats for regional governance.

Diana Wallis will say: "Liberal Democrats have long advocated devolution for the English regions. Following the setting up of a Parliament in Scotland and assemblies in Wales and London, the government has announced its intention to publish a White Paper on Devolution to the English Regions which could be followed by a referendum in those regions where enough public support identified the desire for such a poll.

"There is already a significant amount of administration of public services carried out at a regional level in Yorkshire and the Humber. There are some 40 regional and sub-regional quangos in Yorkshire spending several billion pounds between them. None of them are elected so there is little accountability to local people.

"Liberal Democrats support directly elected regional assemblies, pulling all these quangos together and simplifying the current mess of regional administration to make it far more transparent, approachable and accountable to ordinary people.

"A directly elected regional assembly in Yorkshire & the Humber would take on many strategic functions such as economic development, transport, planning and housing, further education and training, cultural issues such as sport, the arts and tourism. In addition a range of current central government responsibilities such as strategic management of education would be taken over and the regional assembly would have powers to enact secondary legislation."