Book Review: The Northern Veto more

Published in Local Government Studies, Volume 37, Issue 2, 2011 Book Review: The Northern Veto, Mark Sandford (Ed.) Manchester, Manchester University Press, 2009, ISBN 978-0-7190-7552-0 This book forms part of the extensive Devolution Series developed from the ESRC research programme on µDevolution and Constitutional Change¶. It explores and explains the 2004 referendum on an elected regional assembly in the North East of England and associated policy developments. The fulcrum of the book is the no vote in the North East referendum which sounded the death knell for the regional idea in England and thus situates this book firmly as a contextual historical record of the period between 1998 and 2004. The volume crucially brings together chapters from academics, practitioners and researchers embedded in both the policy and research context and thus delivers chalk face data and experience of the events both leading up to the referendum, the referendum itself and subsequent policy developments, including the sub-national review and lessons to be drawn from the unsuccessful process. The book follows a solid chronological path and comprises three distinct sections. The initial couple of chapters deal with the development of Labour¶s policy on elected regional ass emblies from their time in opposition and continuing up to the referendum itself. The middle section of the book comprises chapters focusing on the referendum itself, before the final chapters look at the future of sub-national governance. Charlie Jeffery¶s chapter provides an excellent empirical analysis of the key policy documents pre-referendum and charts the progress of Labour¶s plans through early White Papers and the subsequent Draft Regional Assemblies Bill (ODPM, 2004) and offers a clear critique of where the government fell down in their plans for assemblies. The authors of the chapter begin to explore how Prescott and the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister (ODPM) fought a weak battle within Whitehall and ultimately failed to make the case for assemblies to have strong powers and devolve even a modicum of the powers of Whitehall to the regions and the ultimate victory of the µTreasury -led competitiveness and national policy deliver agenda¶ (p. 22). This exploration of these power struggles within Whitehall and the implications are particularly interesting and warrant further exploration as they contribute to the debate more recently covered by Sarah Ayres and Ian Stafford (2009) regarding the sub-national review. The chapter on µThe Grassroots and Elites¶ by Mark Sandford delivers a rich history and explanation of the various campaign groups and the yes and no campaigns themselves. It also looks across the different regions, assessing the variable trajectories of each of them in developing their own regional constitutional conventions which would lend itself to further study in the context of institutional design. Relating to the campaign, Rallings and Thrasher provide an in-depth analysis of polling data both before and during the referendum campaign and elucidate on the factors leading to the resounding no vote. The chapter on campaigning and the media delivers a coherent analysis of how the yes and no campaigns played out in both the local and national media and the relative successes and failures of each, highlighting interesting lessons to be learned with regards to the prospective referendum on the Alternative Vote in the UK. Steve Leach provides a chapter on an oft-neglected element in debates on regional assemblies: the fact that the referendum was inextricably tied with local government reform and a move to large unitary authorities in the North East. The chapter, although inherently one -sided, delivers a solid appraisal and critique of the logics and rationale posited by both the Boundary Commission and the Labour government. The chapter on the devolution referendums in Wales from Rebecca Davies seems a little out of place in this volume but none the less offers clear comparisons between the contexts of both the 1979 and 1997 referendums in Wales and the 2004 referendum in the North East, positing the similarities between both campaigns and the political terrain in Wales in 1979 and the North East in 2004. The two chapters which stand out particularly within the context of any future regional arrangements are Alan Harding¶s chapter on sub-national governance and alternatives to the regions and Mark Sandford¶s chapter on regional evolution and the future role of the regions. Both chapters explore the purposes and aim of regional governance, with Sandford drawing out lessons from policy frameworks; he delivers an insightful model of effective regional involvement in policy making (p. 175). In the post-2004 context, Harding appraises City regions, the consequences of the subnational review and the ultimately unpredictable future of spatial policy and governance in England. Overall, this volume succeeds in explaining the key factors in the substantial rejection of an elected assembly in the North East, from the lack of clarity and direction from central government, the failure of the ODPM and Prescott to make a case within Whitehall for other departments to cede some power to the regions, which proved a significant factor in the ultimate demise of the regional project even before campaigning had begun. Following the failure of the referendum and the subsequent change in government, this volume is left floating and cut loose, situated in time and context ± and this is where it succeeds. The text is a valuable solid empirical account of a period of change and innovation, where more lessons can be learned from the failures than the successes. It proves invaluable in bringing together both the hard-to-access primary documents and pamphlets and briefings and excellent accounts of those situated in the context. The book would be augmented by individual accounts from policy actors in the yes and no campaigns, which ± as acknowledged by the editor ± would have provided a deeper more embedded insight looking out rather than in at the process. However, this does not significantly take anything away from what is an insightful volume and a worthwhile historical and political record of the event, of use to both researchers in Local Government and Regional Studies and offering real lessons to policy makers should the regional debate re-emerge. © 2011 Thomas Oliver Institute of Local Government Studies, University of Birmingham, UK References Ayres, S. & Stafford, I. (2009) Deal making in Whitehall: Competing and complementary motivations behind the Review of Sub-national Economic Development and Regeneration, International Journal of Public Sector Management, 22(7), pp. 605±622. ODPM (2004) Draft Regional Assemblies Bill: Including Explanatory Notes and Regulatory Impact Assessment (London: HMSO, Cmnd 6285).