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The region (sometimes known as Government Office Region) is currently the highest level of local government in England. There are nine regions, each with a government office and a few associated institutions, including a Regional Development Agency (RDA). London is a special case because it has an elected mayor and is governed by the London Assembly. As in several other European countries, England's existing regions also double as European Parliament constituenciesElections A constituency is any cohesive corporate unit or body bound by shared structures, goals or loyalty. It can be used to describe a business's customer base and shareholders, or a charity's donors or those it serves. The most common meaning of cons for the election of Members of the European ParliamentA Member of the European Parliament ( English abbreviation MEP is a member of the European Union's directly-elected legislative body, the European Parliament. MEPs are the European equivalents of a country's national parliamentary members, known as MPs in.

1 Devolution

The policy of the UK GovernmentThe United Kingdom is a unitary state and a democratic constitutional monarchy. Its system of government (often known as the Westminster system has directly inspired the government of other countries, such as Canada, India, Australia, and Jamaica. The con was to increase the power of government at the regional level, as part of the " devolutionDevolution or Home rule is the pooling of powers from central government to government at regional or local level. It differs from federalism in that the powers devolved are temporary and ultimately reside in central government. Any devolved assemblies ca" that led to elected assemblies in ScotlandScotland or in Scottish Gaelic, Alba is a country and former independent kingdom of northwest Europe, and one of the four nations comprising the United Kingdom. Scotland occupies the northern third of the island of Great Britain. Scotland took part in a p, WalesFor alternate meanings, see Wales (disambiguation Wales ( Welsh: Cymru pronounced /"k@mrI/ SAMPA, km IPA, 'Kumree' approximate pronunciation) is one of the four nations comprising the United Kingdom (the other three being England, Scotland and Northern Ir, and Northern IrelandNorthern Ireland is the smallest of the Home Nations of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland. Northern Ireland lies in the north-east of the island of Ireland. It covers 14,139 square kilometres (5,459 square miles), and has a populati, and part of the concept of regions in the EU. In accordance with this, referendums were to be held on whether to establish directly-elected regional assemblies in the three northern regions of North West England, North East England and Yorkshire and the Humber. The North East referendum was held on November 4 2004 decisively rejecting the proposal; the others were put on hold pending the evaluation of all-postal balloting.

The date of the referendums was announced in July 2004 by Nick Raynsford, after the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister took soundings as to the level of support. The referendum in the North East asked whether there should be an elected regional assembly in that region, and, as the assemblies are tied to local government reform, which pattern of unitary authorities they would like to see.

There is some strong opposition to the introduction of such assemblies, 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. It has been claimed by some that these regions were selected because they are traditionally Labour-voting areas, and so would be likely to return authorities supportive of the current government and would continue to do so if and when a Conservative government was installed.

With the "No" vote in the North East, there now seem to be few prospects for elected regional government in England outside London. John Prescott has announced that the other two planned referendums will not go ahead under the existing legislation.