The British establishment has defiantly held firm on its policy of denying any recognition of the English nation and is now using the increasing demand for an answer to the West Lothian Question to break England up into artificial regions and wipe the country off the map.
The Cities and Local Government Devolution Bill will see local government in England reorganised around city regions with powers and investment sucked out of rural areas and urban areas outside of the sphere of influence of the city regions. Town hall empire builders will be able to choose to dismantle the local government system in large swathes of the country and replace it with a "metro mayor" who will have executive powers over their city region.
There will be very little decentralisation involved in the city region plan with most of their powers being centralised on the city region from local government but there will be very limited powers handed down from the British government to the city regions. Unlike in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland where local government answers to their national governments, the British government will still control English local government and set an agenda that benefits the interests of Big Britishers rather than those of 50m English people.
With its economic and industrial heart ripped out, there will be very little to keep England together and we will become West Midlanders, North Easterners and Bristol City Regioners. Within a generation, English will be replaced with made-up regional identities as the British government, the BBC and the British education system unite to put the final nail in the English coffin.
City regions will never be able to compete against countries on the international stage, they won't even be able to compete against Scotland, Wales and NI within the UK. They will give the illusion of localism and prosperity but it is just centralisation on a regional scale and prosperity for cities at the expense of the rest of the country.
wonkotsane is an author at Bloggers4UKIP.
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