A CONTROVERSIAL new regional assembly could yet be introduced for Cumbria and the North-West . . . even though voters are firmly against the idea.

The Government has admitted that plans for such assemblies – rejected overwhelmingly in a referendum in the North-East five years ago – are back on the agenda.

Tories, who thought the idea had been quietly shelved after the 78% to 22% defeat in the North-East in 2004, are horrified to find that the Government is still pushing for it.

And one of those most fiercely against it is John Stevenson, Conservative prospective parliamentary candidate for Carlisle, who wants decision-making to be brought closer to local communities, not taken further away.

He says that, if Cumbria were made part of a huge North-West Regional Assembly, there would be a real danger of the county becoming “isolated and ignored” because of the demands of more heavily populated cities like Manchester and Liverpool.

“My fear is that we in Carlisle and Cumbria would be too remote, and would see the investment we need being given to the bigger cities instead,” he says. “We would be in real danger of becoming isolated and ignored if we were lumped together with the rest of the North-West of England.”

John says a better solution would be to reorganise local government so that decisions are taken by the people they affect.

“The government wants to centralise decision-making, so that local people have very little say in what is going on,” he says. “I believe we should be doing precisely the opposite, and giving power back to people in their own communities.”

John made his comments after it emerged that Rosie Winterton, the new  Minister for Regional Government, intends to champion John Prescott’s lost cause of an elected regional assembly for the North-West.

In a recent Ministerial keynote speech on regional government, she said she would not let elected regional government “slip off the agenda”.

“I have always been in favour of regional government,” she said. “It is the obvious answer.”

      Under Labour’s blueprint, regional assemblies will need a new tier of regional politicians and regional elections. They will be funded by a regional levy on council tax, and would be likely to add around £300 to council tax bills by setting “a higher precept within the region to fund additional spending”.

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