What on Earth is a City Region?

Linking to this at CEP more as a memorandum than anything else:

The New Local Government Network has released its recommendations for the reorgansiation of local government based on its City Regions Commission, the report includes a call for government to pass greater power and strategic responsibilities to new local authority alliances, based on England's city regions.

It's certain that something needs to be done on "The England Question". The status quo is not an option given devolution elsewhere, Prescott managed to pretty much destroy the idea of Regions in the minds of most (hint John, when you really believe in something, which you seemed to, then try and a) persuade them us a good idea, b) make sure it's not a useless White Elephant and c) explain yourself - ah, therein lies the problem, sorry, forgot), and I really worry an English Parliament would, eventually, destabilise the Union. Personally, I like being English and British, and it is as Britain that we punch above our weight in the world.

A long overdue write up of my full ideas on this is still, well, overdue. I need, I think, to break it down into chunks. In the meantime, I need to read through the latest scheme to solve the problem and figure out if it's any good. Doubt it, but, well, a sceptical open mind remains in place. Not tonight though, sleep needed. Go read the links Gareth put up and tell me/him your opinions, one way or another. There's a chance it may be a good idea, despite coming from NuLab. I'll try to force myself to remember that when reading it, it's so easy to condemn everything they do these days.

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