The Statute of Wessex

by Wessex Regionalists (3rd impression, April 1996; original text October 1982)

These proposals put forward by the Wessex Regionalists are framed in the language of a statute, although the phraseology is considerably more simple than that which would have to be used in an actual Act of Parliament.

Preface to Third Impression, April 1996

When the Statute of Wessex was published in October 1982 it was an historic document because nothing of the kind had been previously been attempted for any single English region. The original text is therefore now reprinted unamended. Events since 1982, notably changes in electoral, administrative and financial arrangements by central government, have out-dated some fifteen Articles or their accompanying text, out of a total of thirty-eight. All of these are listed below, with explanatory notes on their effect on the provisions of the original Statute shown in an Addendum to this Third Impression.

Affected Articles: 3, 4, 7, 8, 9, 15, 16, 19, 21, 22-24, 34, 35, 38. NOTE on Scale of Regional Government and APPENDIX. Economic and Financial. All marked in text by *.

Preamble

Article 1. Whereas the liberties of England, its laws, statutes, system of justice and administration, had their beginnings in the Kingdom of WESSEX.

Whereas that Kingdom in its heyday was at once the cradle of the English language and culture, and the bastion of freedom against the marauding Danes and Norsemen.

Whereas the Queen’s Most Excellent Majesty is directly descended through the female line from the House of Cerdic, by far the longest-ruling of all the Royal dynasties among Her forebears;

Whereas the people of WESSEX have always shown unparalleled allegiance to the Crown;

Whereas the loyalty and affection of the people of WESSEX towards their homeland have never totally disappeared despite a thousand years of remote and centralised rule;

BE IT THEREFORE ENACTED by the Queen’s Most Excellent Majesty, by and with the advice and consent of the Lords Spiritual and Temporal, and Commons, as follows;

PART 1. Identity and definition of the WESSEX region

Article 2. WESSEX shall be a self-governing region of the United Kingdom.

Comment. The statute is the focus for demands for self-government in WESSEX as distinct from other regions of the United Kingdom whose people may also wish to govern themselves. It is not a demand for independence. Defence, foreign affairs, social security, the currency and a number of other matters will remain under the control of the Parliament at Westminster.

Article 3.* The territory of WESSEX shall comprise the historic counties of Berkshire, Devon, Dorset, Hampshire, Somerset, and Wiltshire within their traditional boundaries, and those adjacent territories that may wish to belong to the self-governing community of WESSEX.

Comment. These six counties form the heartland of the ancient Kingdom of WESSEX; they came into existence well before the Conquest and preserved their distinctive identities intact over the centuries: identities of which their inhabitants have become even more acutely aware since their boundaries were altered a few years ago at the whim of Whitehall.

Only a self-governing WESSEX can safeguard its people from unwanted changes imposed from outside the region. WESSEX people have as much right to be proud of their heritage as the Scots or the Welsh or the people of the North of England are of theirs. Inheritors of a settled civilisation and tradition, they are at least as capable of managing their own affairs.

Article 4.* The symbol of the Wessex region shall be the Wyvern emblazoned on gold on a field of green.

Comment. This device was displayed on the banners of the Kings of Wessex.

PART 2. Instruments of regional government

Article 5. Legislative power shall be invested in the WESSEX Assembly.

Comment. The range of governmental functions over which the Assembly shall have the legislative power is detailed in Part 3 of the Statute.

Article 6. Membership of the Assembly shall be by due process of nomination and election, and all voters registered in WESSEX shall be eligible.

Comment. The WESSEX Assembly could legislate to enfranchise people of WESSEX birth not regularly resident within the region. Peers of the realm normally resident in WESSEX would have the same voting rights as other residents.

Article 7.* The Assembly shall have the power to determine the demarcation of regional constituencies and the system of representation, provided these substantially conform to the practice of either the Westminster Parliament or the European Assembly.

Comment. The proposed limitation of the discretion of the Assembly under this Article is designed to prevent the proliferation of constituencies and voting systems with the advent of regional government. This said, the Single Transferable vote system of proportional representation, with three-member constituencies in rural areas and five-member constituencies in urban areas, has much to commend it.

Article 8.* The Assembly shall number not fewer than 90 and not more than 130 members.

Comment. These limits ensure that constituencies will be of manageable size, which is important in view of the intention to abolish elected County Councils (see Article 21). In its narrowest territorial definition of six historic counties (Art. 3) WESSEX has at present 45 M.P.s at Westminster, a number which may be increased by the Boundary Commission. Such an increase will automatically enlarge the Assembly from its minimum of 90 if a formula of two Assembly members for every M.P. is adhered to. At present WESSEX also sends four representatives to the European Assembly and shares five others with neighbouring regions (Cornwall and Plymouth, Bristol, Upper Thames, Thames Valley, and Wight and East Hampshire). Boundary adjustments to these shared constituencies will be necessary. With a slightly larger population Scotland has 71 M.P.s, 8 M.E.P.s, and the Scottish Assembly would have numbered 160.

Article 9.* Legislative acts of the WESSEX Assembly shall be scrutinised before promulgation by the WESSEX Senate, which may exercise a delaying veto in the event of disagreement with the Assembly.

Comment. There is no universal practice regarding bi-cameralism in the States, provinces or Regions in countries with federal constitutions. 49 of the 50 States of the U.S.A., but only one of the 11 West German Lander, have two legislative chambers. All the Canadian Provinces are uni-cameral, but in Australia tiny Tasmania has two chambers, while the much larger Queensland has one. The balance of argument in favour of bi-cameralism in WESSEX is based on long-standing usage in British constitutional practice, on the extra manpower made available for committee work, and on the possibility it offers for the direct representation of local authorities, academic institutions and the professions. The composition and powers of the WESSEX Senate will be decided in detail by the Constituent Assembly described in the Schedule to this Statute.

Article 10. The WESSEX Assembly and the WESSEX Senate shall be known generically as the Witan.

Comment. The Witan is the name of the Council that advised the Kings of Wessex. The House of Commons and the House of Lords together constitute the Parliament of the United Kingdom; the House of Representatives and the Senate similarly constitute the Congress of the United States.

Article 11. Executive power shall be invested in a cabinet consisting of Ministers presided over by a Premier. Members of the Cabinet shall be members of the Witan.

Comment. In Canadian provinces and Australian States the first ministers are known as Premiers to distinguish them from the Prime Ministers who preside over the federal cabinets.

Article 12. The work of the regional administration shall be subject to scrutiny by Committees of the Witan, which shall be empowered to call for papers and examine ministers and civil servants regarding departmental policies and the proper discharge of their statutory duties. Reports of the Committees shall be laid before both chambers of the Witan, and time shall be allocated for their debate.

Comment. This provision follows the trend of recent years for increasing House of Commons supervision of the work of the executive through functional committees. In France and the United States such committees are also used to consider amendments to new legislation.

Article 13. The WESSEX cabinet may be dismissed by the Assembly (but not by the Senate) on the loss of a vote of confidence, or on the passage of a vote of censure.

Comment. This is normal Westminster practice; but if the Assembly is elected for a fixed term the Premier will not have the option open to a Prime Minister of calling for fresh elections.

Article 14. After elections, or on the fall of a government in mid-term, the President of the Senate will invite a member of the Assembly to form a new government after consultation with party leaders. In the event of the absence or indisposition of the President of the Senate, the Speaker of the Assembly will discharge this duty.

Comment. As the Senate will have had no part in the fall of the outgoing government, it is appropriate that its President should be the functionary entrusted with the search for a new government that will enjoy the support of a majority in the Assembly, and that the Speaker should act only in his absence. These provisions make it possible to dispense with the office of Governor associated with the several States of the Australian Commonwealth, or Lieutenant-Governor in the Canadian Provinces.

PART 3. Powers, functions and administration

Article 15.* The WESSEX Assembly and Executive shall have legislative and executive powers over the following functions at present controlled by central government:

1. Local government: designation of areas, allocation of functions, financial provision.
2. *Health: hospitals, G.P. services, dentistry, auxiliary services, local health services.
3. Housing and environmental services: water, sewerage, refuse disposal, public health services, land drainage and coast protection, parks and pleasure grounds.
4. Social welfare.
5. Education, the Arts and Sport, Libraries and Museums.
6. *Roads and road transport.
7. Town and country planning.
8. Tourism.
9. The Fire Service.
10. *Agriculture, forestry and food.
11. *Police.
12. The magistracy: appointments; Magistrates Courts and County Courts: administration.
13. *Administrative tribunals.
14. Prisons and detention centres.

Comment. All of these functions were controlled by the Parliament of Northern Ireland from 1922 to 1972; items 1 to 9 were devolved under the abortive Scotland and Wales Acts of 1978. Asterisked items call for various sorts of central/regional or inter-regional co-operation (Art. 20).

Article 16. The WESSEX Assembly and Executive shall exercise legislative and executive powers concurrently with central government over the following functions.

15. Industry and trade: economic planning, location of industry, regional aid, energy policy and investment by public corporations.
16. Rail, sea and air transport, inland waterways.
17. Employment services, including vocational training.
18. Fisheries and exploitation of Continental Shelf.
19. Radio and television.
20. Civil defence.

Comment. The exercise of concurrent powers can be a source of conflict, and spheres of authority must be carefully defined in the Act which sets up the Regional Government. See further references to this problem in Article 20. Note again that items 15 to 17 were controlled in their entirety by the Parliament of Northern Ireland from 1922 to 1972.

Article 17. The following functions shall be exercised by the organs of central government:

21. Industry and trade: economic planning, location of industry, regional aid, energy policy and investment by public corporations.
22. Industry and trade: economic planning, location of industry, regional aid, energy policy and investment by public corporations.
23. Rail, sea and air transport, inland waterways.
24. Employment services, including vocational training.
25. Fisheries and exploitation of Continental Shelf.
26. Radio and television.
27. Civil defence.

Comment. This list of powers is traditionally reserved for central government in the modern federal State. But here also some degree of co-operation between central and regional governments is needed. See Article 20.

Article 18. Residual functions not specifically allocated to central government shall fall under the authority of the regional government.

Comment. This follows the Constitution of the United States of America, and is established Liberal Party policy.

Article 19.* The WESSEX executive will take over established administrative machines, together with their staffs, as under:

1. Those parts of central government Departments administering services within WESSEX reserved to regional government under Article 15, including any regional organisation that may already exist.
2. Those parts of Quasi-Autonomous Governmental Organisations administering services within WESSEX reserved to regional government under Article 15, including regional organisations.

Comment. The main Departments involved under section 1 will be:

• Department of the Environment.
• Department of Health and Social Security: Health and Welfare.
• Department of Education and Science.
• Department of Transport: Roads and Local Transport, Driver and Vehicle Licensing.
• Home Office: Fire, Police and Prison departments.
• Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food: Agricultural Commodities (domestic sections), Food, Land and Resources, Land Drainage.

The main organisations involved under section 2 will be:

• Regional Water Authorities.
• The English Tourist Board.
• The Forestry Commission.
• The Housing Corporation.
• N.H.S. Regional Authorities.
• The Countryside Commission.

Services administered concurrently will not normally require the division and transfer of central government Departments or Quangos, although there might be exceptions in services such as employment, local radio, fisheries, administration of airports and certain aspects of industry and trade.

Most of the administrative decentralisation indicated in Article 19 has already been undertaken in both Scotland and Wales, and experience there shows that no insuperable difficulties exist. The WESSEX Executive will need to regroup the administrative departments it inherits, and again experience in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland is available as a guide to show how this may be done with maximum effectiveness and efficiency.

Article 20.

1. In respect of concurrent functions Whitehall shall be empowered to delegate administrative (but not legislative) powers to the regional government where it has been agreed that central government should retain control over policy. Where such delegation is not in operation the approval of the Witan must be obtained to give effect in WESSEX to any Statutory Instruments issued at Westminster relating to concurrent functions.

2. The regional government in WESSEX may delegate any of its powers, legislative or administrative, to central government, or to a consortium of self-governing regions.

3. Departments or agencies of central government shall inform the regional government of any proposals for changes in the ownership or use of land in their possession or under their control, and shall be subject to the requirements of the town and country planning legislation of the WESSEX REGION.

4. The regional government shall have the right to make representations to central government regarding the impact on WESSEX of any aspect of their policies.

Comment. The first of the provisions in section 1 is the policy of the Liberal Party.

The provision in section 2 was used in 1949 by the Canadian Provinces to bring about uniformity in old age pension benefits, and to pool their cost. The general effect of powers of delegation is to provide flexibility in the working of federal institutions without invoking a permanent shift in powers by means of the constitutional amendment, which is expensive, long drawn-out and practically irreversible.

The regional government may wish to make use of Section 2 in Agriculture, where specialist services such as Marketing, Pest Infestation or Veterinary will be better centralised on an agency basis than fragmented. On the other hand this section permits them to keep formal control of the whole range of agricultural services, as what has been delegated may be rescinded if circumstances change. Section might also be used to cover certain aspects of Roads and Road Transport Policy, such as the establishment of a central agency for the regulation of Road Haulage; or the retention under inter-regional control of the Police Staff College and Scientific Development unit, or of the Council on Tribunals acting in an appellate and advisory capacity.

Section 3 refers particularly to Defence, and covers situations such as that experienced at Crichel Down.

Section 4 leaves central government firmly in control of its own legitimate functions, at the same time legitimizing protest by regional legislatures and executives, so that such matters cannot be ruled out of order.

Article 21.* County Councils in WESSEX shall be abolished at a date to be determined by the Witan.

Comment. As administrative units the Counties have a history of more than nine centuries, but County Councils were elected for the first time under the Local Government Act, 1888. Abolition of the Councils does not therefore mean that the Counties as such cease to exist, and their future is safeguarded under Article 22 and potentially under Article 25.

Article 22.* County administrations shall continue to operate for an indefinite period under the supervision of committees and sub-committees comprising members of both chambers of the Witan representing their areas.

Comment. At a stroke this arrangement prevents administrative centralisation and empire-building at regional level, keeps officials in touch with the people of the counties, assists liaison with the District Councils and officers, enables elected representatives to keep in close touch with their constituents while saving elected manpower, and yet maintains overall control of policy by the Witan. Whilst continuing to work in the County departments, and hence guaranteeing administrative continuity and expertise, officials would become postings with departments transferred from central government, an outcome strongly advocated by every Select Committee and Royal Commission that has considered the matter over the past half century. County committees drawn from a Witan with a membership not less than 135 nor more than 195 will take over the duties at present performed by some 560 county councillors.

Article 23.* District Councils and elections thereto shall continue to operate for an indefinite period.

Comment. The 55 District Councils in WESSEX came into existence as recently as 1974, and while ill-conceived at the time, there is no urgent case for re-drawing the map except in a very few cases. Districts might acquire some County Services without waiting for any general re-organisation, e.g. primary and secondary education.

Article 24.* Parish and neighbourhood Councils and elections thereto shall continue to operate for an indefinite period.

Comment. The intention is to permit the Witan and the WESSEX Executive a lengthy period for settling-in their own operations before attempting to alter the local government settlement of 1974 below County level.

Article 25. The duties at present discharged by the Parliamentary Commissioner, the Health Service Commissioner and the Commissioner for Local Government in England shall be taken over by regional Ombudsmen who shall be empowered to annul executive acts and administrative procedures in cases of proven mal-administration, who shall report annually on the whole range of their investigations to the Witan, and who may issue interim reports on specific cases.

Comment. The Ombudsmen could be appointed by the WESSEX Executive, subject to approval by the Witan, or elected on a County basis. In either event nominations would be valid only for candidates with proven legal/administrative qualifications and experience. The Witan would be well-advised to permit any elector in WESSEX to address complaints regarding alleged mal-administration direct to the Office of the Ombudsmen, as in Denmark, and not exclusively through elected representatives.

Article 26. Crown Privilege and the Official Secrets Acts shall not be applicable to the proceedings of the regional government of WESSEX, except in relation to civil defence.

Comment. Secrecy is inappropriate to the conduct of governmental functions invested in the Witan and Executive and their agencies. This does not imply that the reasons for every administrative act must be made public, but the Article does provide access for courts and tribunals hearing cases, and removes punishment for ‘leaks’ from the criminal law to civil law or to ordinary disciplinary procedures.

PART 4. Regional Finances

Article 29. The WESSEX Assembly shall have power to levy taxes on personal incomes additional to those collected by central government.

Comment on Articles 27-29: Grants-in-Aid from central government have been the sole source of revenue for the Scottish and Welsh Assemblies. Grants-in-Aid together with local tax powers were used to finance the Stormont government from 1922 to 1972. But since 1979, we have seen central government savaging grants to local authorities and even limiting their powers to raise rates. There is no doubt that the Scottish and Welsh Grants-in-Aid would have been treated in the same way, particularly the local government components.

Clearly, any regional authority of the future must do everything in its power to avoid similar treatment. Hence the proposal that the entire product of specifically named taxes be earmarked for regional use; selection to frustrate any centrally inspired plan to switch from direct to indirect taxes (e.g., from income tax to V.A.T.) by inclusion of some of each in the regional package; the use of part of these revenues for redistribution from rich to poor regions (Art. 30); and power to levy regional taxes in case central government should still attempt to circumvent these safeguards by reducing the rates at which any or all of the taxes reserved to the regions are levied. At the same time, uniformity of tax rates throughout the country and the relatively economical use of central machinery for their assessment and collection are preserved for all the major taxes.

Article 30. Between 10% and 15% of the revenues generated from the taxes listed in Article 27 shall be retained in the Consolidated Fund of the United Kingdom and set aside for later distribution among all the regions under an agreed formula based on need.

Comment: The actual percentage of revenues to be retained for this purpose is to be agreed annually between the regional governments and central government, each represented on a Joint Treasury Board, which will also be responsible for producing and updating the formula for distributing the funds made available. If WESSEX achieves self-government in advance of other regions, the division of the revenues held back from WESSEX shall be agreed between central government and the government of WESSEX, any sums finally surrendered to be distributed among the poorer regions.

The problem of achieving a fair system is immense. The U.S.A., Canada, and Australia all thought they had made the States and Provinces financially independent, but all have been forced to introduce Grants-in-Aid from the federal government. These grants have also been progressively geared to meet the needs of the poorer regions, i.e., they have become redistributive, and this regardless of the political colour of the governments involved. The same process was very marked in Northern Ireland during its fifty years of autonomy.

For decades, Northern Ireland, Wales, the Economic Planning region of Northern England, and (almost certainly) Cornwall have been in permanent deficit, the Economic Planning region of South Eastern England being the only one in permanent surplus. WESSEX is an average region with nothing to gain or lose from any rational scheme for regional aid (see Appendix).

Article 31. Public expenditure shall be proposed by the WESSEX Executive and accepted or rejected by the Assembly. No expenditure proposal shall be considered by the Senate, and no increase in expenditure shall be proposed by the Assembly.

Article 32. The WESSEX Treasury shall be empowered to borrow to meet short-term deficits in the Consolidated Fund and to issue loan stock to meet capital expenditure.

Article 33. All payments into and out of the Consolidated Fund of WESSEX shall be subject to the scrutiny and authority of the Controller and Auditor-General, who shall be appointed by the Assembly and shall report to the Public Accounts Committee of the Assembly.

Article 34.* Local government revenues shall be derived from rates on property; from interest, dividends, rents, and trading surpluses; from such grants-in-aid as the WESSEX Assembly and Executive approve; and from approved borrowing.

Comment on Articles 31–34: This is the present situation except that grants-in-aid and approval for borrowing will come from the regional government instead of from central government. By then, rates may have been replaced nationwide by another local tax.

Article 35.* Local government revenues shall be derived from rates on property; from interest, dividends, rents, and trading surpluses; from such grants-in-aid as the WESSEX Assembly and Executive approve; and from approved borrowing.

Comment: This reflects the transfer of county services from elected County Councils to the Witan. Rate income will therefore be available to county district, parish, and neighbourhood councils, and to Water Boards until an alternative method of financing them is devised. Most grants-in-aid will be diverted to pay for county services. (See Appendix.)

PART 5. Interpretation and amendment

Article 36. Disputes regarding interpretation of the Act of Parliament in which the Statute of WESSEX is promulgated shall be referred to the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council.

Article 37. Amendment of the Statute of WESSEX in respect of the internal constitution of the region shall be subject to absolute majorities in both chambers of the Witan, and may be challenged on points of law only, the appellate court being the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council.

Article 38.* Amendment of the Statute of WESSEX affecting relations with central government, other self-governing regions, the European Community, or other external bodies, shall be subject to absolute majorities in both chambers of the Witan and the concurrence of the competent constitutional authorities of the external bodies affected, and may be challenged on points of law only, the appellate courts being the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council, the European Court of Justice, or such other international Court as may be appropriate.

Comment on Articles 36, 37 & 38: The Judicial Committee of the Privy Council is unrepresentative but vastly experienced in constitutional interpretation in a wide range of Commonwealth countries, including federations such as Australia.

SCHEDULE. Preparatory arrangements

Preamble

Fifty years of sustained political campaigning in Scotland and Wales resulted in substantial administrative decentralisation in both countries, and this machinery of government centred on Edinburgh and Cardiff was available for their respective Assemblies to take over under the devolution Acts. It is still available.

Administrative decentralisation in the English regions has been confined to the regionalisation of some central Departments with widely scattered staff. Then in 1964, the government set up the Regional Economic Planning Councils, but these were never more than fact-finding and advisory bodies, their members nominated from among ‘the great and the good’ and their reports largely ignored. Even they have been disbanded since 1979.

Stage One: Creation of a WESSEX Office

A WESSEX Office will be set up on the lines of the Scottish and Welsh Offices, with a Secretary of State at its head.

The first task of the WESSEX Secretary will be to hive off the relevant sections of the central government Departments listed in Article 19 of the Statute and bring them under the authority of the WESSEX Office. This accomplished, he will need to turn to the Quangos also listed in Article 19, adjust their boundaries where necessary, and then integrate them into the emerging administrative structure of the WESSEX region.

This transfer of administrative functions will take at least two years. The Scottish Office (1927) and Welsh Office (1964) were still taking over new functions from central government in the 1970s, but every accretion had to be wrested out of an obstructive mandarinate, and the process could be much more expeditious under firm Ministerial direction.

Stage Two: Election of a WESSEX Constituent Assembly

Constitutional development need not await the completion of administrative decentralisation but can take place simultaneously. Although the setting up of a WESSEX Office being an executive act requires no legislation, the appointment of the Secretary of State would in fact constitute a first step in constitutional advance.

Under his authority, elections will be held for a Constituent Assembly, which shall be charged with the task of drawing up a detailed constitution following the principles of the Statute of WESSEX, which will then be presented to Parliament for ratification.

The Constituent Assembly may appoint from among their members a Council to advise the Secretary of State on the transfer of administrative functions and the preparation of legislation required for the implementation of the Assembly’s proposals.

The process of election of the Constituent Assembly and its activities during the preparatory period will give the people of WESSEX an opportunity to gauge the advantages and disadvantages of regional self-government while executive power still remains in the hands of the Secretary of State. In Spain, this has proved a most educative experience, for the central and regional administrations as well as for the people of the regions and their representatives, an experience that was denied to the Scottish and Welsh voters in 1979.

Stage Three: Enactment of the Statute of WESSEX

When the Constituent Assembly has finished its task of drafting the new Constitution, the Secretary of State will present this to Parliament as the WESSEX Bill, which upon receiving the Royal Assent will become the law of the land.

Stage Four: Ratification of the Statute of WESSEX

Within three months of the enactment of the Statute, the Secretary of State will organise a referendum in WESSEX for its approval or rejection. During the referendum campaign, special facilities will be accorded to members of the Constituent Assembly to explain the provisions of the Statute, and to urge its acceptance or rejection as their individual consciences move them.

Stage Five: Establishment of the Witan

Upon ratification of the Statute, the Secretary of State will dissolve the Constituent Assembly and organise elections for the Witan. When the election results are known, he will invite the leader of the largest political group in the Assembly to form a government, to which he will formally transfer his executive and administrative powers.

From this point, the Witan will become the sole authority responsible for the internal affairs of WESSEX. If a WESSEX Office is retained, or indeed the Secretary of State continues to hold office at Westminster, their functions will have been reduced to liaison between central government and the regional government, much as the Home Office once acted in relation to Northern Ireland, and still does in respect of the Isle of Man and the Channel Islands.

NOTE on the Scale of Regional Government

Approximately one civil servant out of three is employed by the Whitehall departments listed in Article 19 for transfer to regional control.

The six counties of WESSEX contain some 9% of the population of the United Kingdom, so the WESSEX share of the transferred civil servants will be 3% of the total United Kingdom establishment (being 9% of 33 1/3%).

This group of industrial and non-industrial civil servants will be outnumbered eight to one by full-time local government employees working in the County and County District services. Many of them already live in WESSEX and work in the regional organisation and local offices of the various departments affected, and most of those who do move out from Whitehall will be senior staff with substantial spending power.

APPENDIX. Economic and financial

In a normal year* public expenditure still falling on central government under Article 17 of the Statute would amount to something less than half the total incurred over the whole range of central, regional, and local government. Of the remainder, about one-fifth would be spent by District Councils and minor local authorities, and two-thirds by regional governments, the remaining fraction being shared between central and regional government under Article 16. In slightly greater detail, the picture comes out as follows:

*Data calculated from Government Blue Books for years 1976 & 1980

STATUTE OF WESSEX

Figure 1. Distribution of public expenditure under regionalisation:

• Central government (Article 17): 46%
• Regional governments (Article 15): 12%
• Regional governments (Article 35 – County Services): 21%
• [Total for regional governments: 33%]
• Local government (Article 34 – District services etc.): 11%
• Shared central/regional services (Article 16): 10%

The sources of revenue to be allocated to regional and local governments are indicated in Articles 27 to 29 and Article 34. Revenues retained by central government will include Customs and Excise, taxes on companies and capital, and National Insurance (as distinct from National Health) contributions. Together with rents from public property, interest from outstanding loans, dividends, and trading surpluses, plus normal borrowing (P.B.R.), receipts from these will give central government a little less than half the total public revenues. Regional governments will receive about four-fifths of the other half, the remaining fifth representing revenues raised by District and Parish Councils in rates and from other sources. Again, in greater detail, the picture comes out as follows:

Figure 2. Distribution of public revenues under regionalisation:

• Central government: 48%
• Regional governments (Articles 27 to 29): 40%
• Local government (Article 34): 12%

Several points emerge from comparison of Figures 1 and 2:

1. Local government will finance itself. Once County services have been transferred to regional government, the remaining local authorities as a whole will be able to meet their expenditures from local revenues until and unless further duties are delegated to them. Of course, some areas will be wealthier than others and have greater or lesser demands on their services, so some sort of equalisation formula will have to be devised. But at last, local authorities as a class will be financially independent.
2. Regional government will be in surplus. Revenues assigned to regional governments will be sufficient to meet the cost of regional services, including county services, with a surplus available towards the cost of services to be shared with central government.
3. Central government will be in surplus. Revenues retained by central government, together with normal borrowing, will cover the cost of that part of public expenditure which is to remain the responsibility of central government, leaving a surplus available towards the cost of services to be shared with regional government.
4. The financing of concurrent services will derive from the surpluses of central and regional governments. The surpluses available to meet the cost of these shared services (Article 16) are shown as deficient, but not to such an extent as to cause a problem. Broadly speaking, central government will legislate for and administer these services, with regional governments meeting the greater part of their cost. As the services concerned are all important to regional economies and welfare, this arrangement provides a fair and reasonable basis for a genuine partnership. Let regional governments be the paymasters rather than the other way round if the regions are to avoid the harassment that local authorities have been subjected to in recent years.

Comment. In the interpretation of Figures 1 & 2, it is important to realise that they refer to a division of national finances between central government on the one hand and putative regional governments not only in WESSEX but throughout the United Kingdom. As noted in the Comment on Article 30, while the allocation of tax revenues to cover regional expenditures as a whole is relatively simple, to achieve that same balance between the revenues and expenditures of each and every region is anything but simple, because regions vary greatly both in resources and needs, the two rarely matching.

Official statistics are now available showing: (1) Revenues collected from personal taxes and indirect taxation and local rates. (2) Expenditure on the services listed in Article 15 in respect of each of the eleven economic planning regions into which the United Kingdom is divided. These show that all but three or four of these regions could support their own devolved public expenditures out of revenues raised within their own boundaries, while three others have sufficient surpluses to contribute substantially towards funds set aside to assist the poorer areas.

Both the South Eastern and South Western economic planning regions are low expenditure areas, but although there is a wide gap between their levels of per capita tax revenues, WESSEX, lying astride them, nevertheless emerges high on the list of financially viable self-governing regions of the future.

It may be noted in passing that above-average expenditure by central government in retirement pensions and defence installations goes some way to compensate WESSEX for below-average receipts of public money in other sectors, such as industrial development grants or the non-pension elements of social security payments.

ADDENDUM

Article 3 – Following the abolition of Avon County in April 1996, Somerset has been restored to its pre-1974 boundaries. However, the ‘official’ Berkshire continues to exclude the Vale of the White Horse and includes Eton and Slough, towns in historic Buckinghamshire. Likewise, Bournemouth and Christchurch, historically in Hampshire, remain officially in Dorset.

Article 4 – Whilst there is no doubt that the emblem of Wessex is the golden Wyvern, the background colour against which it should be displayed must be a matter of conjecture. There are historical precedents for blue, green, or red; when green was used in 1982 it seemed appropriate for the variety of its associations, and has since then acquired a new contemporary validity. It should be noted that other flags for Wessex have been devised, a sign of the interest which the region is awakening.

Article 7 – The first references to the European Parliament in English constitutional law substituted ‘European Assembly’ for the accepted continental term. Subsequent legislation has removed this anomaly.

Article 8 – There are now 56 Members of Parliament for the six counties of Wessex (four parliamentary constituencies straddle the regional boundary). The Assembly would therefore have been between approximately 100 and 130 members. Wessex is represented by 11 Members of the European Parliament. Five of these represent constituencies wholly within Wessex (Devon and East Plymouth; Dorset and East Devon; Itchen, Test and Avon; Somerset and North Devon; Wight and Hampshire South) and six also represent constituents in neighbouring regions (Bristol; Cornwall and West Plymouth; Hampshire North and Oxford; South Downs West; Thames Valley; Wiltshire North and Bath). Scotland now has 72 MPs and 8 MEPs.

Article 9 – There are now 16 Länder in the united Germany.

Article 15 – Environmental Services as understood today require a greater degree of inter-regional, and indeed international, co-operation than was evident in 1982. The formulation of environmental regulations is arguably best addressed at European level. Equally, there is much to be said for placing their implementation in the hands of regional governments able to integrate protection of the environment with their social and cultural responsibilities.

Article 16 – Most public corporations have ceased to exist as a result of privatisation, but this does not preclude regulatory legislation by central or regional governments as appropriate to the function privatised. Some functions might be undertaken by private enterprise in one region, co-operatives in a second, local authorities in a third, and under direct regional control in a fourth. This is what devolution means.

Article 19 – The relevant portion of the DHSS is now the Department of Health; the Department of Education and Science is now the Department for Education and Employment. The education portion of the latter is proposed as a devolved function, the employment portion as a concurrent one. As the original Statute noted, employment services could be regionally administered within a policy framework set nationally.

The quangoes listed under section 2 must now include ‘Next Step’ agencies such as the Highways Agency and the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency. NHS Regional Authorities were abolished in April 1996 and matters of more than local importance are now centralised under the NHS Executive, based in Leeds. However, a network of regional offices seems likely to be retained.

With privatisation, the functions of Regional Water Authorities were split between the privately owned Regional Water and Sewerage Companies and the National Rivers Authority. The NRA in turn was replaced in April 1996 by the Environment Agency for England and Wales. Some of the latter’s functions, such as river basin management, sometimes cross regional boundaries, so cross-boundary arrangements such as those already in place for rivers on the Anglo-Scottish border will be needed. For the larger catchments, inter-regional executive agencies may be advisable. In respect of other functions, policy-making and administration could be undertaken directly by regional governments within the framework of European and national strategies.

Articles 21–24 – The uneven pattern of local authorities emerging from the work of the Local Government Commission and in Scotland and Wales requires that these Articles be reconsidered. It would seem unlikely that the Witan would wish to plunge local government in Wessex into yet another major reorganisation, and it was made plain in correspondence with the authorities in Somerset and Wiltshire during the formative stages of the Commission’s work that the Wessex Regionalists could live with a mixed pattern of one-tier and two-tier Councils. The only changes to local government necessary to implement the Statute are those required to restore the northern boundary of Berkshire to the traditional line broadly following the River Thames.

Unitary authorities outside the administrative county framework present difficulties when decisions need to be taken affecting a wider area — for example, on strategic planning, economic development, or representation on European bodies. Regional government will fill this vacuum and because of its greater powers will be more effective in discharging these functions than county councils have been able to be.

Article 34 – Domestic rates were replaced in 1990 by the Community Charge or Poll Tax, which was replaced in turn by the Council Tax in 1993. Since 1990 Business Rates have been set and levied by Central Government. Under regional government, their determination and collection would become a regional responsibility unless and until returned to the local authorities.

Article 35 – If County Councils are retained, local government will continue to be financed by a mixture of local revenues and grants-in-aid, with the difference that grants-in-aid will come from regional, not central, government. In contrast with the original intention of the Statute, a wider range of services will remain in the hands of elected local authorities, but the benefits of administrative and financial simplicity will not be achieved. In practice, those services that need to be organised at regional level may have to be organised there regardless of where formal responsibility lies. This is one of the chief lessons to be learned from the progressive centralisation and quangoisation, over several decades, of once-local public services.

Article 38 – The European Community is now one of three ‘pillars’ of the European Union established by the Maastricht Treaty; the second and third ‘pillars’ are, respectively, agreements on foreign and security policy, and justice and interior affairs.

NOTE on Scale of Regional Government – Reference to Civil Servants must now include staffs of the 180 or so Next Step Agencies created by the end of 1995, and which account for nearly 80% of the central government payroll.

APPENDIX — Economic and Financial – Without attempting to update the distribution of public expenditure between central, regional, and local government, it should be noted that the 68% ascribed in 1982 variously to central government and regional government would now include the budgets of most Next Step Agencies and Quangos set up since then. By 1995 the Quangos were spending as much as the local authorities, and it is now widely recognised that this expenditure must be placed under the control of elected bodies whether central, regional, or local.

Finally, despite these changes, the principles set out in 1982 for the allocation of expenditures and revenues between central and regional government remain unaffected: both tiers will be in surplus with funds available to finance concurrent responsibilities. The distribution of resources between regional and local government will depend upon balances to be struck within the region, and it is not crucial to the essentially constitutional matters dealt with by the Statute.

Some Comparative Statistics for the 1990’s

Region/County	Population (‘000)	Area (sq. Km)	Infant Mortality (per 1,000 live births)	GDP/head (UK = 100)
SCOTLAND	5,102	77,080	8.7	92.7
WALES	2,281	20,776	8.0	84.5
WESSEX	6,169	23,034	(See below)
Berkshire (SE)*	753	1,259	7.5	103.9
Wiltshire (SW)*	575	3,476	8.1	103.4
Avon (SW)*	962	1,332	7.0	103.1
Hampshire (SE)	1,579	3,779	7.3	101.9
Somerset (SW)†	470	3,452	5.6	93.7
Dorset (SW)†	663	2,653	7.5	91.0
Devon (SW)	1,040	6,703	7.1	83.1
Isle of Wight (SE)	127	380	9.5	70.4
S.E. Region (GL area + 12 counties)			7.9	119.0
S.W. Region (7 counties)			8.1	93.9

Notes: * indicates counties bestriding the M4 Hi-tech corridor. † indicates counties of the South Western peninsula.

Because official regional statistics divide Wessex between the SE and SW regions, no aggregate figures for Wessex as such exist.

The areas of the eight administrative counties shown above, and for which a range of statistics is available, approximate to the six historic counties of Wessex.