8: WESSEX AWAKE!
For the Wessex Regionalist general election campaign of 1979, I put out the following leaflet under the heading of `Wessex Awake!'. It took the form of a 12-point programme.
We demand:
1: The same, and no less a degree of self-government for Wessex, as should be offered to Scotland - in an attempt to establish a federal pattern for the UK as a whole.
2: The creation of a Wessex Regional Assembly for the direction of our internal affairs, in place of County Councils.
3: That the Wessex Assembly shall automatically receive a substantial proportion of all taxation revenue collected by the UK Parliament, to spend as the Wessex Assembly sees fit on regional responsibilities (e.g. employment, housing, transport, agriculture, fisheries, education, the health services, social welfare, law and order).
4: That the revenues from our mineral resources (including the Dorset oil) be invested in the development of alternative energy sources, and in long-term regional employment opportunities - with an idea in mind for the ultimate self-sufficiency of Wessex, in terms of energy, nutrition, and all essential manufacture.
5: The introduction of a property tax, to be paid by any house buyer who has not worked or resided in Wessex for either seven years of his or her life, or for three consecutive years over the period immediately prior to the purchase.
6: The control of industrial expansion in Wessex to ensure ecological protection, and sympathy with the local environment. Also the encouragement of small businesses, craft industries, and community work projects, wherever they appear to be economically viable.
7: The promotion of Wessex as the political and economic ally of all other agricultural regions within Europe, to operate in defending common interests against their transformation by those regions which are more highly industrialised.
8: The planning of a Wessex oriented transport system, to link up our principal cities, without having to depend solely upon routes directed towards London. There should be special emphasis upon an improved system of public transport.
9: The support of the various Wessex art councils and Wessex tourist boards, so as to encourage the growth of a regional identity and consciousness in the presentation of our region as a cultural whole.
10: The conservation of all that is best in our architectural heritage, with special attention paid to our cottages and villages. Also the protection and investigation of ancient sites.
11: The formation of a Wessex radio and television channel.
12: The promotion of a Wessex identity in sporting activities, on a par with Scotland, Wales and Ulster.
When it came to the Euro-election (also in 1979), the message that I was putting over (in the local press and in the speeches that I was required to deliver) was that the European Parliament should prepare itself for taking over many of the responsibilities at present exercised by the various National Assembles. We should in fact both anticipate and encourage a two way transference of power from Westminster, both upwards to the European Parliament, and downwards to the Regional Assemblies.
The net outcome should be that a Region (such as Wessex) will stand in control of its own quality of life, whilst the more significant aspects of power - such as the control of our economy, the control of foreign policy, and the control of all armed forces should be placed firmly under European direction. This would indeed involve an end to sovereignty for what has formerly comprised the United Kingdom, with the MPs at Westminster finally legislating themselves out of a job. Some would transfer to constituency representation within their particular Region, while others would be elected to represent that Region within the European Parliament.
We should not fear this loss of sovereignty; it is something which has in any case gradually been eroded over the years, and the time has come for us to identify more precisely which are the choices we need to decide close to home, and which to entrust to those in charge of the wider organisation of our welfare. It is important for example that the economy should be regulated centrally on a European basis, so that taxation will be levied on a uniform basis throughout the continent - modified by regional benefit schemes to ensure that the poorer Regions have ample opportunity to improve their living standards until they match those of the better off Regions. But it is equally important that the Regions should receive their established quota of the continent's inland revenue, not as an act of generosity from the central government, but by statutory right on a per capita and per hectare basis - with different rates operating perhaps, according to whether a particular hectare is set to industrial, residential, agricultural or to any other specific usage.
The concept of government from Europe that I was advocating was very far from the idea of Britain's regions then being at the mercy of an omnipotent central bureaucracy, acting beyond our control. It was far more the fulfilment of the Anarchist's dream of a central government with strictly limited and clearly demarcated areas of control. The real business of living (in the quality of life for its citizens) should be left for each of the Regions to sort out as they might think fit, in all the variety that might best suit their individual inclination.