If devolution is good for Scotland, why not us?

Gordon Brown’s call to give more powers to the Scottish Parliament, and by association to the assemblies which have special authority in Wales and Northern Ireland, should be seen in a broader context (The Yorkshire Post, March 11).

If regional government is appropriate for them, then we should be calling for more, not less, regional governance in the North. Commonality of culture links the people who live in Yorkshire, Lancashire, Cumbria and the North East.

One can also see to the south a fist of counties called the Midlands which have Birmingham as an epicentre and stretch from the Lincolnshire coast to the Welsh borders from Nottinghamshire/Derbyshire to the bottom of Worcestershire. There is also The West, the Channel Counties and the arc above London with the South East.

The boundaries of England, Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales were determined by medieval marriage alliances and wars. This is the time to modernise governance and while we will operate as unity for defence and some aspects of taxation, reduce the power which requires us to think that our regions give little to our commonwealth when compared to the South-East and London.