Group's 'no' to assembly (From Warrington Guardian)

Group's 'no' to assembly

A 'NO' group has sprang up to oppose a north west regional assembly, saying it will bring higher taxes but little benefit.

A spokesperson for the North West Says No Campaign said: "Everybody's initial reaction was this is a great idea.

"But as we read the White Paper we realised it's fundamentally flawed.

"One, it costs people money, two the assembly doesn't get any meaningful extra powers, and three, it's going to be a kick in the teeth for local democracy.

"Local councils are going to lose power to 35 people in Manchester."

The spokesmen for the cross-party group said powers on issues like health and policing would not go the assembly.

But Halton's top Cllr, Tony McDermott, who is chairman of the assembly group, said: "The aim is not to take powers to Manchester and certainly there's no big idea to burden people with taxes.

"But it will take more powers from London to the north west of England."

He said a typical example was while Halton had to do a lot of groundwork for the new Mersey crossing, a new bridge over the Thames was passed in London very quickly and with little groundwork.

He added: "The effect of a regionally elected government would not be to create more politicians and beauracrats but to remove many of the un-elected quangos that run our lives at the moment."