General election: English regional parties press for power

The swagger and success of the Scottish National party has encouraged a string of new pro-devolution parties in England's regions to press for more self government.

Yorkshire First, the North East party and the Northern party in Lancashire, are fielding candidates in 22 seats. A federal England is needed to balance the rise of London and Edinburgh, they say.

They join Mebyon Kernow, the party for Cornwall, which has been campaigning for more local powers since 1953. The government gave official minority community status to the Cornish last year. The Wessex Regionalist party, founded in the 1970s, is contesting Witney in Oxfordshire, against prime minister David Cameron.

All want their own assemblies, similar to the Scottish parliament, and a degree of fiscal autonomy.

Richard Carter, who co-founded Yorkshire First a year ago, said London-based politicians had pumped disproportionate resources into the capital, especially into transport and the arts. "The North and other regions are suffering at the expense of London," he said.

The business consultant said the UK should follow the example of Germany and other countries with a federal political system.

Yorkshire needs more powers to tackle deprivation and help boost the economy, he said.

The party does not have a formal membership system but it won 19,000 votes in the European elections last year and is fielding 14 candidates, including Diana Wallis, a former Liberal Democrat MEP.

Hilton Dawson, a Northumbrian and former Labour MP for Lancaster and Wyre, is the founder and chairman of the North East party, which is contesting four seats.

Voters in the North East rejected a regional assembly in a 2004 referendum by four to one, but the party says it would abolish the region's 12 local authorities in favour of an elected North East government, responsible for health and council functions.

Mr Dawson says his region could be much more economically successful but is being held back by taxation and investment. He says the north east's major export consists of young people moving to live and work elsewhere.

His nephew, Michael Dawson, a former Labour activist, co-founded the Northern party in March along with Harold Elletson, the former Conservative MP for Blackpool. They promise a "northern rebellion" against plans to exploit shale gas.

The party believes it could deny victory to the Conservative candidates in two marginal seats: Lancaster and Fleetwood and Morecambe and Lunesdale.

Mebyon Kernow, avowedly left of centre, is contesting the six constituencies of Cornwall. The party has never won more than 5 per cent of the regional vote in a general election, although in the 2009 European elections it polled 7 per cent of the Cornish vote, ahead of Labour.

In the 2010 general election, its best result was in St Austell and Newquay where it came fourth with 4.2 per cent of the vote.

Dick Cole, leader, said: "It's hard to make a breakthrough at Westminster when people are often thinking about who the government is going to be."

Jon Tonge, professor of politics at Liverpool university, said the parties were unlikely to affect the overall result because their support was drawn from across the political spectrum. "They are a mix of old school romantic Conservatives . . . Lib Dems and working class voters who don't want to back Ukip."

He also pointed out that all the main parties were offering to decentralise power and control over some spending.

The regional parties say that the model of combined local authorities - such as Greater Manchester - haggling for powers behind closed doors, is undemocratic.

They also say that localisation plans in England are too focused on cities. "There's a general consensus between the Westminster parties that they can fob us off with combined authorities and city deals and call that devolution," Hilton Dawson said.

The British Chambers of Commerce on Thursday said a survey of 1,300 members backed devolution by 42 per cent to 26 per cent but believed that Whitehall should hold on to control of tax-raising powers. Almost a third believed they would pay more tax if local politicians were to determine the level of business rates.

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