Why I ...I believe Yorkshire should have its own parliament

Ed Gouge. Lecturer in local government at Leeds University. He was born in Kent and served as a member for Ilford of the Greater London Council until its abolition in 1986.

England is officially a nation of regions following the establishment of eight quangos - regional development agencies - to look after infrastructure and economic development. But these are neither powerful, nor democratic. They need elections while people are hardly likely to get excited about electing members to an RDA, if we had proper regional parliaments with services and policies decentralised from Whitehall as is intended for Scotland and Wales, it would be another story.

Other European countries with regionalised forms of government - Germany, France, Italy, Spain and Belgium - have shown that there are distinct advantages. Bodies controlled by politicians are much more likely to innovate and experiment than those that are unelected.

Regionalism is important in the European Union. For instance, Bavaria wanted to co-operate with East Anglia in new technology but because there was no regional structure, links were made with Wales instead.

Yorkshire has always had a strong regional identity, even though the reorganisation of local government 25 years ago, the abolition of the metropolitan counties and 1990 boundary changes made it a dog's dinner. Demand is building for a county parliament.

The break-up of the British empire means England has to forge a new identity. Unlike the Welsh and the Scots, English people have always had a problem distinguishing between being English and being British.

There is a strong argument that a much more devolved system of government would be better for England. With wider powers, the RDA structure could provide the basis for directly elected regional bodies in areas such as Yorkshire and the Northeast. The Southwest, which stretches from Cheltenham to Cornwall, is far too large. It must be a good thing if services are run and policies decided at the lowest functional level, close to the ground. But for transport, economic development and health, regional elected bodies are needed.

* Interview by Helen Hague.