The North
Sir: It must be galling for Lord Houghton of Sowerby to discover that an organisation of whose aims he evidently disapproves has had the effrontery to set up shop in his former constituency. But that hardly justifies his curious string of jibes at the Campaign for the North (Letters, 18 March). He claims that we are a purely Yorkshire body and that there is no such region as the North. He also seems to be hinting that there is something sinister about our Rowntree connections. None of these comments is true.
There is no secret about the fact that our premises, though not as it happens our funds, come from the generosity of the Rowntree Social Service Trust, one of whose trustees is indeed a Liberal MP. This is something we have in common with many pressure groups including the Low Pay Unit, Friends of the Earth and Age Concern, none of which could be accused of being Liberal Party fronts (is this what Lord Houghton is trying to say?). It is also true that several of our supporters are Liberals; but others, including myself, are Labour or Conservative supporters and many are of no party.
That the North exists can readily be ascertained by asking people in any street from Cheshire or Sheffield to Carlisle or Northumberland. The Kilbrandon Commission's attitude survey is of little help in this respect, since its questions simply assumed regions based on present economic planning boundaries. In any case we are not committed to the idea that the North should be administered as a single unit in any devolved system; probably it should be three, but this is a matter for the public debate which we are trying to promote. Certainly our membership is evenly spread throught the North.
Lord Houghton also accuses us of being impatient, though people have been talking about regional government for at least sixty years. Does he really think that, after the Kilbrandon Report, no more needs to be said? His reaction seems sadly typical of the Establishment's complacent approach to constitutional, or perhaps any, change: look no further than the end of your nose (and certainly not ahead or abroad); ignore any new ideas for as long as possible and preferably cast aspersions on their proponents rather than debate the ideas themselves; when change finally has to come, make sure that it is too little, too late and as half-baked as possible.
Paul Temperion Director, Campaign for the North, Birchcliffe Centre, Hebden Bridge, West Yorkshire
Previous page
