The , also known as '''Government Office Region''', is currently the highest tier of
Local Government subnational entity in
England .
England is divided into nine regions each containing one or more county level entities. The regions were created in level 1 regions.
The original need to create regions in the UK (and the regions of England) was due to the
European Union (then European Community) decision to create
Regions Of The EU , pursuant to the
Maastricht Treaty - see
Committee Of The Regions , to which English regions send personnel for EU-wide discussions.
Merseyside originally constituted a region in itself. In
1998 it was merged into the
North West England region.
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The Regions are to be used for propose merging forces within the confines of the current
Government Office regions.
Ofcom propose a phased change to the telephone numbering plan with a ''wide area code'' (020, 021, 022 etc.) used for each government office region.
[http://www.ofcom.org.uk/static/archive/oftel/ind_groups/numbering/forum/widearea.doc
See Also: Regional Assemblies in England
The powers of the regions are very limited and there are no elected regional governments except for London.
Each region has a Government Office and a few associated institutions, including a
Regional Development Agency (RDA) and an assembly. As there are no regional elections, local representatives on regional bodies are nominated by county,
Unitary Authority and borough councils.
London is a special case because it has an elected
Mayor and an
Assembly with powers in a number of policy areas.
The
Labour Government announced that it wished to increase the power of government at the regional level, as part of the "
Devolution " that led to elected assemblies in
Scotland ,
Wales , and
Northern Ireland , and part of the concept of
Regions In The EU . The present nominated regional assemblies would be replaced by elected bodies.
There is some strong opposition to the introduction of such assemblies from the general public, and also some in politics: especially from the
Conservative Party , but also from back-bench Labour Party MPs. Opponents of regionalism argue that instead of decentralising power from London, the new tier of government will simply take power away from county councils, and that the assemblies will be far weaker than those in
Scotland ,
Wales and
Northern Ireland .
Some
English Nationalists have alleged that the real purpose of introducing elected regional assemblies is to weaken England's national identity. Most English nationalists would prefer to see decisions affecting England alone to be made by English MPs alone, although some would prefer to see a separate English parliament. However, Labour has flatly rejected both of these options. English nationalists generally argue that the regional assemblies are both unnecessary and intentionally destructive to the English nation.
There is also resentment that the regionalisation policy is based on continental patterns of local government supported by the
European Union and ignores the traditional primacy of the county system in England. Regions were introduced originally in 1994 as they were needed due to the
European Community 's creation of
The Regions Of The EU , but the UK also took the opportunity to use these new divisions of the nation as a way to better and more efficiently deliver government services. The regions of England were never intended to form a part of government decision making. However, over time, the centralising tendency of governments in the UK has led to central governments granting powers more to the regional government level as opposed to the local government level, making regional area government offices decision-making bodies - this has led to the calls for more democracy at the regional level.
The regions themselves have also been criticised as being largely based on those devised by the UK government in the
Cold War for coordinating civil defence . They are identical apart from that Yorkshire and the Humber and North East England made up two sub-regions in a larger region in the civil defence system - see
Civil Defence Regions . These civil defence regions were in turn based on older
Second World War -era divisions, although they saw a major shakeup in the 1970s.
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Specific objections include:
Other suggestions have included a new and Cornwall should form a region of their own.
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See Also: Northern England referendums, 2004
A
Referendum was held in the North East
Region of England on
November 4 ,
2004 ; in it, the voters overwhelmingly rejected the proposal that this region should have an
Elected Regional Assembly .
Similar referendums had been planned in
North West England and Yorkshire and the Humber. Following the rejection of the proposal in the North East,
Deputy Prime Minister John Prescott ruled out holding further referenda in other regions for the foreseeable future.
