| Wessex Regionalist Party |
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The Wessex Regionalist Party is a minor English political party that seeks some degree of legislative and administrative Home Rule for the area known as Wessex , in the south-west of England. The party has contested Wessex-area constituencies in most elections since they were established, but with little success. In the 2005 General Election , the party contested one seat, Dorset South , and received 83 votes. {Link without Title} Previous election results are given below. According to its Electoral Commission records it is led by John Banks , and had income of £100 (including £95 subscriptions), and expenditure of £35.52, for the year 2004, in which it contested no elections. 2005 income and expenditure would be larger. GOALS The party was formed by Alexander Thynn in 1974 in response to growing demands for home rule in both Scotland and Wales . The party argues that if power is devolved in those two parts of the United Kingdom , then the royal government should become a Federal System that devolves power to the English regions as well. After a number of years' informal existence, the party organisation was constituted in 1981. The 1982 constitutional policy document, ''The Statute of Wessex'', details those powers which the party believes should be devolved to a Wessex parliament or "witan", with between 150 and 230 members. The list, reproduced below, is modelled largely on the powers which were exercised by the devolved administration in Northern Ireland between 1922 and 1974. Current policy is that the powers devolved should be "broadly" those of the Scottish Parliament, though the list below remains the only comprehensive statement. The party has actively participated in the Wessex Constitutional Convention since its establishment. The party's political ambitions are roughly equivalent to those of Mebyon Kernow 's proposals for the future of Cornwall . The party opposes abandoned plans by the British government to give South West England some form of assembly along the lines of the London Assembly because the proposed Eastern boundary of the region would leave out the heart of Wessex, Hampshire, including its traditional capital, Winchester as well as bisect the Cotswolds Area Of Outstanding Natural Beauty . The plans would have also divided two major transport corridors, the M4 Corridor and the South Coast Metropole , which the party argues would have adverse economic effects. POWERS WHICH THE WESSEX REGIONALISTS WOULD DEVOLVE TO A WESSEX PARLIAMENT Legislative and executive powers which would be devolved 1. Local government: designation of boundaries, allocation of functions, financial provisions 3. Housing and environmental services 4. Social welfare 5. Education, culture and sport 7. Planning Inspectorate functions 8. Tourism 9. The Fire Service 12. Magistrates and county courts 14. Correctional facilities
Executive powers which would be devolved while legislative powers remained with central government 15. Trade and industry 16. Rail, air and water transport 17. Employment services, including vocational training 18. Fisheries and exploitation of Continental Shelf 19. Radio and television 20. Civil defence Legislative and executive powers which would remain with central government 21. Defence, except for civil defence 22. Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs 23. Appointment of judges and administration of superior courts of law 24. Citizenship and nationality 25. Posts and telecommunications 26. Currency and banking 27. Weights and measures, Highway Code and other national and international standards 28. Trade Union and company law, regulation of chartered and incorporated bodies 29. Funding of Research Associations 30. Social Security benefits and pensions HOW THE PARTY DEFINES WESSEX The party currently uses Thomas Hardy 's definition of Wessex as consisting of the traditional counties of Berkshire , Devon , Dorset , Hampshire (which includes the Isle Of Wight ), Somerset and Wiltshire . The party is currently considering a proposal to add Gloucestershire and Oxfordshire to this list, which would bring their definition into line with that used by the Wessex Constitutional Convention and the Wessex Society . UK GENERAL ELECTION CANDIDATES
EUROPEAN ELECTION CANDIDATES
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