Labour and the English regions: a critique of proposals for democratic assemblies

Abstract

This paper explores the current government proposals for English devolution and the prospects for their success. The main focus of the analysis will be the government's recent white paper. Your Region, Your Choice: Revitalising the English Regions, that proposes the structure, functioning, and timetable for the introduction of regional government in England. The first part of the paper examines these proposals, both for democratic assembles as well as the intermediate reforms proposed for the administration of England's regions in the absence of democratisation. The second half of the paper offers a critique of the government's proposals, as well as of English regionalism in general.