Regional Debate - Manchester Friday 12th March

A small meeting at manchester heard the case for YES and NO votes in the forthcoming referendum

Garham Stringer MP spoke on behalf of many in the Labour Party argueing that

1) the public is disinterested

2) most the powers would be drawn up from local councils and another layer of government imposed in met areas to delay decision making

3) That the Regions would still face the current imbalance in spending - the real problems would remain unchanged

Cllr Steve Radford for the Liberal Party added that if MP's with between 65,000 and 70,000 constituents were seen remote that an Assembly member elected by 290,000 would have no meaningful or democratic relationship

For the Lib Dems no one turned up so we don't have a clue what they believe this week