Independence for North West England!

Chris Davies

A North West MEP is claiming that an independent North West would do just as well as an independent Scotland.

Chris Davies says the region's 7 million population is larger than that of Scotland, and it has clear geographical boundaries.

The Liberal Democrat made his call as the campaign to keep Scotland in the UK was being launched north of the border, and claimed that his tongue was only slightly in his cheek.

He said: “If Scotland can be independent then why not the North West?

“Our population is larger, our major cities bigger, our landscape diverse, and our economy just as productive."

“I don’t want to see border guards in Carlisle, or to require people in Gretna to show their passports before they travel south to do some shopping, but so long as Scotland and the North West both remain within the European Union that won't be necessary."

Davies said that his serious point was that decision-taking in the UK was too centralised in London.

"The North West's population is not only larger than that of Scotland, but of a dozen Independent countries within the EU. The way in which London rules the roost is demeaning and bureaucratic.