Wessex Regionalists

Last updated

Wessex Regionalists
Leader Jim Gunter
Founded1974
Headquarters121 Worthing Road
Patchway
Bristol
Membership (2021)21 [1]
Ideology Wessex regionalism
Agrarianism [2]
ColoursSea green, red and gold
Website
regionalists.theonlywayiswessex.net

The Wessex Regionalists is a minor English regionalist political party in the United Kingdom. It seeks a degree of legislative and administrative home rule for Wessex, an area in the south and south-west of England loosely based on the Anglo-Saxon kingdom of the same name.

Contents

The party has contested a small number of Wessex-area parliamentary constituencies in most elections since it was established, but without success.

History

Speaking at a tourism industry conference in 1969, the then Viscount Weymouth suggested Wessex as a regional identity for tourism purposes. He later objected to the press over Wessex not being given the same opportunities as Scotland or Wales in the Kilbrandon Report. Lord Weymouth subsequently stood as the first Wessex Regionalist parliamentary candidate in Westbury in the February 1974 United Kingdom general election, coming last with 521 votes. [3]

The party was formally constituted in 1981. It initially used Thomas Hardy's definition of Wessex as Berkshire, Hampshire, Wiltshire, Somerset, Dorset and Devon; but later added Oxfordshire and Gloucestershire. [4] [5] It pulled out of the 1987 general election and advocated that its supporters voted for the Liberal/SDP Alliance on the basis that they were a close second in many Wessex seats and were the most supportive of regional government. [6]

Lord Weymouth (who succeeded as The 7th Marquess of Bath in June 1992) was the first president of the party, later defecting to the Liberal Democrats [2] although in 1999 he was "still in touch" with the Wessex Regionalists. [7] Subsequent presidents have included the activist John Banks and the former architect Colin Bex. [8]

In 2013, Dorset County Councillor David C Fox switched his party allegiance from Liberal Democrat to Wessex Regionalist for his final few days in office. [9]

During the 2015 general election, Bex cast doubt on the official version of events of the 2001 September 11 attacks. [8] During the UK's 2016 referendum on membership of the European Union, the then-president Bex campaigned to leave. [10] He described immigration as a "peaceful invasion", describing "people from all over the world" as "infiltrating" national institutions. [10] Devizes candidate and party leader Jim Gunter, at a hustings shortly before the 2017 general election, advocated a second referendum and, if that were not possible, the "Norway option" of remaining in the single market. [11]

Ideology

Wessex as defined by the Wessex Regionalists Wessex Regionalists Map.svg
Wessex as defined by the Wessex Regionalists

The party has been described as ethnoterritorial, [12] though an earlier study of regionalist and nationalist parties in Britain reached the opposite conclusion, saying that "For regionalism, the legitimacy of the state as a whole is not usually in question; the challenge is to its territorial organisation. This is in contrast to ethnic nationalism (for example, that advocated for Wales), which suggests that the state is not legitimate because it contains different nations." [13] Its platform is based on the creation of a devolved assembly for the region it defines as Wessex. [2] The party defines the counties of Berkshire, Devon, Dorset, Gloucestershire, Hampshire, the Isle of Wight, Oxfordshire, Somerset, and Wiltshire as being part of Wessex. Whilst this roughly corresponds to the South West Region, it also includes the Western counties of the South East Region, and excludes Cornwall, which it describes as being "the last of the Celtic areas to be incorporated into Wessex", and retaining its own identity, as well as a nationalist party, Mebyon Kernow. [14] The assembly has variously been described as having a rotating location in the style of the Anglo-Saxon Witenagemot and as being based in Winchester, which had been the capital of the ancient kingdom of Wessex. [15] [16] The assembly would take power from Parliament in Westminster rather than from local authorities. [16]

In light of UK government recognition of the Cornish people as a national minority under a European treaty, the party called for greater protection of local produce and what it described as the "Wessex dialect". [15] The party believes that the Wessex region has a distinct cultural identity, which it seeks to promote. [17] It defines this culture as including morris dancing, cider, and the works of various local writers. [2] The party was described in The Guardian as having a "nostalgia for pre–industrial revolution England". [2]

In 2010, the party advocated a 100% tax rate on the top 10% of earners, with the revenue passed to parish councils. [2]

Electoral performance

Westminster elections

ElectionCandidateConstituencyVotes [18]  %
1974 (February) Viscount Weymouth Westbury 5210.8
1979 Colin Bex Windsor & Maidenhead 2510.4
Henrietta Rous Devon North 500.1
Gwendoline Ewen Dorset West 1920.4
Michael Mahoney Winchester 3920.6
Viscount Weymouth Wells 1550.3
Anthony Mockler Devizes 1420.2
Tom Thatcher Westbury 1,9053.0
1983 Anthony Mockler Wantage 1830.4
Colin Bex Windsor & Maidenhead 680.1
Henrietta Rous Devon West & Torridge 1130.2
David Fox Dorset North 2940.6
Simon Winkworth Winchester 1550.3
Adam Stout Wansdyke 2130.4
David Robins Woodspring 1770.3
Gwendoline Ewen Devizes 2340.4
Maya Kemp Salisbury 1820.3
John Banks Westbury 1310.8
1997 Colin Bex Portsmouth North 720.2
2001 Colin Bex Wells 1670.3
Henrietta Rous Winchester 660.1
2005 Colin Bex Dorset South 830.2
2010 Colin Bex Witney 620.1
2013(b) Colin Bex Eastleigh 300.1
2015 Colin Bex Witney 1100.2
2017 Jim Gunter Devizes 2230.4

European Parliament elections

ElectionCandidateConstituencyVotes

1979

Viscount Weymouth Wessex 1,706
1984 Henrietta Rous Devon 659
1989 Gwendoline Ewen Bristol 1,017
Henrietta Rous Devon 385
Anthony Mockler Somerset and Dorset West 930

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Wessex</span> Anglo-Saxon kingdom in the south of Great Britain

The Kingdom of the West Saxons, also known as the Kingdom of Wessex, was an Anglo-Saxon kingdom in the south of Great Britain, from around 519 until Alfred the Great declared himself as King of the Anglo-Saxons in 886.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Wiltshire</span> County of England

Wiltshire is a ceremonial county in South West England. It borders Gloucestershire to the north, Oxfordshire to the north-east, Berkshire to the east, Hampshire to the south-east, Dorset to the south, and Somerset to the west. The largest settlement is Swindon, and Trowbridge is the county town.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">South West England</span> Region of England

South West England, or the South West of England, is one of the nine official regions of England in the United Kingdom. It consists of the counties of Cornwall, Dorset, Devon, Gloucestershire, Somerset and Wiltshire. Cities and large towns in the region include Bath, Bristol, Bournemouth, Cheltenham, Exeter, Gloucester, Plymouth and Swindon. It is geographically the largest of the nine regions of England with a land area of 9,203 square miles (23,836 km2), but the third-least populous, with an estimated 5,764,881 residents in 2022.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">West Country</span> Southwestern area of England

The West Country is a loosely defined area within southwest England, usually taken to include the counties of Cornwall, Devon, Dorset, Somerset and Bristol, with some considering it to extend to all or parts of Wiltshire, Gloucestershire and Herefordshire. The West Country has a distinctive regional English dialect and accent, and is also home to the Cornish language.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Alexander Thynn, 7th Marquess of Bath</span> English politician, artist, and author (1932–2020)

Alexander George Thynn, 7th Marquess of Bath, styled Viscount Weymouth between 1946 and 1992, was an English peer and landowner, owner of the Longleat estate, who sat in the House of Lords from 1992 until 1999, and also an artist and author.

The Wessex Constitutional Convention is an all-party pressure group, in the United Kingdom, devoted to pursuing a degree of self-government for Wessex. It has the following stated aims:

  1. To achieve the broadest consensus on the form of self-government appropriate for Wessex.
  2. To campaign for the implementation of that consensus at the earliest possible opportunity.
  3. To oppose the continuing partition of Wessex between the 'South-West' and 'South-East' regions.
  4. To promote as Wessex the area comprising the eight traditional counties of Berkshire, Devon, Dorset, Hampshire, Oxfordshire, Gloucestershire, Somerset and Wiltshire, subject to addition or subtraction according to popular wish.
<span class="mw-page-title-main">North Wessex Downs</span> National Landscape in England

The North Wessex Downs are an area of chalk downland landscapes located in the English counties of Berkshire, Hampshire, Oxfordshire and Wiltshire. The North Wessex Downs has been designated as a National Landscape since 1972.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Devizes (UK Parliament constituency)</span> Parliament constituency in the United Kingdom, 1885-2024

Devizes was a constituency in Wiltshire, England, which included four towns and many villages in the middle and east of the county. The seat was held by members of the Conservative Party continuously for a century from 1924.

England is divided by a number of different regional schemes for various purposes. Since the creation of the Government Office Regions in 1994 and their adoption for statistical purposes in 1999, some historical regional schemes have become obsolete. However, many alternative regional designations also exist and continue to be widely used.

The Wessex Regiment was a Territorial Army infantry regiment of the British Army, in existence from 1967 to 1995. Initially consisting of a singular battalion, the regiment was later expanded to also have a second.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Thomas Hardy's Wessex</span> Fictional setting for Hardys novels

Thomas Hardy's Wessex is the fictional literary landscape created by the English author Thomas Hardy as the setting for his major novels, located in the south and southwest of England. Hardy named the area "Wessex" after the medieval Anglo-Saxon kingdom that existed in this part of that country prior to the unification of England by Æthelstan. Although the places that appear in his novels actually exist, in many cases he gave the place a fictional name. For example, Hardy's home town of Dorchester is called Casterbridge in his books, notably in The Mayor of Casterbridge. In an 1895 preface to the 1874 novel Far from the Madding Crowd he described Wessex as "a merely realistic dream country".

The Royal Commission on the Constitution, also referred to as the Kilbrandon Commission or Kilbrandon Report, was a long-running royal commission set up by Harold Wilson's Labour government to examine the structures of the constitution of the United Kingdom and the British Islands and the government of its constituent countries, and to consider whether any changes should be made to those structures. It was started under Lord Crowther on 15 April 1969, Lord Kilbrandon took over in 1972, and it finally reported on 31 October 1973.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Wessex (European Parliament constituency)</span> Former European Parliament constituency

Wessex was a European Parliament constituency covering all of Dorset in England, plus parts of western Hampshire and southern Wiltshire. It was named after the Anglo-Saxon Kingdom of Wessex.

The region of South West England is divided into 58 parliamentary constituencies, which are made up of 16 borough constituencies and 42 county constituencies. Since the general election of July 2024, 24 are represented by Labour MPs, 22 by Liberal Democrat MPs, 11 by Conservative MPs, and 1 by a Green MP.

John Croisdale Banks was an English political activist and writer, noted for his work on the territorial aspects of constitutional reform.

Dorset and Wilts Rugby Football Union is the governing body for rugby union in the counties of Dorset and Wiltshire, England. Dorset & Wilts RFU is a Constituent Body of the Rugby Football Union (RFU) and is responsible for the management and administration of the game within the counties of Dorset and Wiltshire of all forms and at all levels. Originally Dorset and Wiltshire had their own county teams but would start to merge into one body towards the end of the 1930s, having already played a combined match against Hampshire in 1935–36 which Dorset & Wilts won 9–6. By 1939 Dorset & Wilts agreed to become a unified rugby football union to take part in the 1940–41 County Championships but this was postponed by the outbreak of World War II. After the war Dorset & Wilts played its first official county match in 1947 and attained full county status from the RFU in 1949.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Threefold division of England</span> Thee different legal jurisdictions

The threefold division of England refers to the three different legal jurisdictions, Wessex, Mercia and the Danelaw, into which the Kingdom of England was divided, from the time of Cnut the Great (1016-1035) to the reign of King Stephen (1135-1154). These three areas each had their own separate legal system within England, inherited from the former kingdoms of Wessex and Mercia and the formerly Danish controlled territories of Northern and Eastern England.

References

  1. ↑ "Wessex Regionalists". Electoral Commission. 13 September 2022.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Petridis, Alexis (3 May 2010). "Cider, morris dancing and 100% tax: an election strategy with a difference". The Guardian.
  3. ↑ Fort, Linda (2 April 2015). "Wessex Regionalists want "devo-opt" for Berkshire and points west".
  4. ↑ Peter Barberis; John McHugh; Mike Tyldesley (1 January 2000). Encyclopedia of British and Irish Political Organizations: Parties, Groups and Movements of the 20th Century. A&C Black. pp. 77–. ISBN   978-0-8264-5814-8.
  5. ↑ "Devolution strikes back – but do Cornwall and Yorkshire want more powers . . . or just more money?". www.newstatesman.com.
  6. ↑ "Regionalists pull out", Reading Evening Post page 5, 28 May 1987
  7. ↑ Daily Express page 29, 23 June 1999
  8. 1 2 Douglas, Jason; Colchester, Max (7 May 2015). "In U.K. Election, Ancient Kingdom Eyes Political Comeback" – via www.wsj.com.
  9. ↑ "Tories remain in control of Dorset County Council". Bridport News. 3 May 2013.
  10. 1 2 "Middle England's immigration referendum". 14 June 2016.
  11. ↑ "Brexit dominates discussion at hustings for Devizes candidates". The Wiltshire Gazette and Herald. Retrieved 3 May 2021.
  12. ↑ Meguid, Bonnie M., Institutional Change as Strategy: The Role of Decentralization in Party Competition (2009). APSA 2009 Toronto Meeting Paper. Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=1450911
  13. ↑ Bennett, RJ, 'Regional movements in Britain: a review of aims and status', Environment and Planning C: Government and Policy, Volume 3, Issue 1, pp 75-96 (1985)
  14. ↑ Xylas, Nick (7 May 2018). "Defining Wessex". Wessex Regionalists. Retrieved 25 July 2020.
  15. 1 2 "Why can't Wessex be recognised as National Minority like Cornwall?". Daily Echo.
  16. 1 2 "Could Hampshire have more power over its own destiny?". Daily Echo.
  17. ↑ Byrne, Eugene (7 June 2017). "Bristol's fringe political candidates throughout the years".
  18. ↑ Banks (1986)

Sources

This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.