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). Greater 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 Parliamentconstituencies for the election of Members of the European Parliament.
The date of the referendums was announced in July 2004 by Nick Raynsford, after the Office of Deputy Prime Minister took soundings as to the level of support. The referendums will ask whether there should be an elected regional assembly in their 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.
The regions themselves have also been criticised as being largely based on those devised by the UK government in the Second World War for coordinating civil defence in England, and as too reliant on compass points for names.
Specific objections include:
the North West region is too elongated, and Cumbria should instead be associated with the geographically closer North East;
the Eastern region is too geographically diverse - from the marshlands of East Anglia to suburbs of London in Hertfordshire;
the South East region is too large, in terms of both population and area;
The Redcliffe-Maud Report produced by the Royal Commission on local government reform in 1969 recommended the creation of eight provinces. In approximate terms, these were to be
Britain in Bloom divide England into 12 regions. They are broadly the same as the government office regions, except that Cumbria is a region in itself,
and South East England into three - Thames and Chilterns, Southern England and a rump South East England.
