Northern English devolution referenda, 2004
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A referendum was held in the North East region of England, in the United Kingdom, on 4th November 2004. In it, the voters overwhelmingly rejected the proposal that this region should have an elected regional assembly.
The Government had dubbed the referendums the Great North Vote.
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[edit] Options put to vote
The creation of regional assemblies was to be tied to abolition of the existing two-tier structure for local government in these regions; and its replacement with a uniform system of unitary authorities. In areas that currently have two-tier government (Cheshire, County Durham, Cumbria, Lancashire, North Yorkshire, Northumberland), voters were to be asked which pattern of unitary government they would like to see.
Two options were proposed by the Boundary Committee for each county in the review area - generally consisting of a single unitary authority for the entire county, or a breakup into smaller authorities which are larger than the existing districts. It was recommended that ceremonial counties be left untouched in most cases. This recommendation was broadly (with one minor alteration in West Lancashire) accepted by the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister.
Voting was to take place on a per-county council-area basis, except that the Cumbria and Lancashire votes will be run as one — since it would be impossible to have option 1 in one and option 2 in another.
Any changes as a result of the North East referendum would probably have come into effect on 1st April 2006 — to give time for preparation, and taking into account 1st April as the traditional day of local government reform in the UK.
In Lancashire and Cumbria the proposals for multiple unitary authorities were very similar to those proposed by the Redcliffe-Maud Report in 1969. This proposed authorities for North Cumbria based in Carlisle, and one for Morecambe Bay covering Barrow-in-Furness and Lancaster for the north of the region. In central Lancashire there were to be divided into four authorities based on Blackpool, Preston, Blackburn and Burnley. The area of West Lancashire was to be given to Merseyside and included with Southport in a district.
The options were as follows
[edit] Cheshire
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Option 1
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Option 2
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[edit] County Durham
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Option 1
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Option 2
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[edit] Cumbria
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Option 1
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Option 2
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[edit] Lancashire
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Option 1
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Option 2
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[edit] North Yorkshire
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Option 1
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Option 2 |
[edit] Northumberland
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Option 1
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Option 2
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[edit] The result
On 4 November 2004, in a turnout of almost 48% using a postal ballot, voters in the North East decisively rejected the proposed regional assembly. The reasons for this result are varied, however it is felt that the regional power would have been concentrated in an Assembly situated in Newcastle-upon-Tyne, which given the strong historic rivalries between urban centres in the North-East was an unpopular choice of venue (although vehemently supported by the dignitaries of Newcastle itself, which created further tensions). It was also felt that not enough of a case had been put forward for the necessity of the Assembly, and it was feared that it would add another layer of politians and public servants, thereby increasing taxes for the citizens of the areas affected.
Yes: 197,310 (22.1%)
No: 696,519 (77.9%)
Rejected: 12,538
Local authority Yes No Turnout* Alnwick 2,771 11,666 57.4% Berwick-upon-Tweed 2,250 8,597 52.3% Blyth Valley 7,523 21,178 45.5% Castle Morpeth 4,776 16,952 57.2% Chester-le-Street 5,487 15,610 49.5% Darlington 4,784 32,282 49.0% Derwentside 9,718 22,888 49.1% Durham 9,791 24,106 48.3% Easington 8,065 21,520 42.5% Gateshead 17,011 52,459 49.3% Hartlepool 4,887 24,240 42.9% Middlesbrough 7,977 33,543 42.1% Newcastle upon Tyne 19,984 61,477 46.4% North Tyneside 15,203 55,121 50.7% Redcar & Cleveland 8,493 43,250 50.6% Sedgefield 9,040 23,583 48.3% South Tyneside 11,329 41,029 46.3% Stockton-on-Tees 11,050 52,040 48.3% Sunderland 17,927 71,893 43.4% Teesdale 2,020 8,972 56.9% Tynedale 5,146 20,975 55.4% Wansbeck 5,947 15,503 46.6% Wear Valley 6,131 17,635 49.9% Totals 197,310 696,519 47.7% *Valid and rejected votes divided by electorate.
The related votes in Northumberland and County Durham on local government changes became moot.
[edit] Future
Similar referenda had been planned in North West England and Yorkshire and the Humber. These were postponed on 22 July due to issues with all-postal ballots - there were many allegations of fraud and procedural irregularities. Following the rejection of the proposal in the north east of England Deputy Prime Minister John Prescott ruled out holding further referenda in other regions for the foreseeable future.
