2021 Local Election Minifesto

Forward
We do not live in a normal country. We live in the most politically and economically
centralised nation in the developed world.

The level of inequality between the North and the South is not too different from a country
recovering from a civil war.

Our party is going to end the centuries old North South divide. We believe that the divide is
the result of specific decisions taken by the Westminster establishment – be it Labour or
Tory.

Our towns see no investment, our public transport is left to rust, and our people are forced to
move away. They like to call this “managed decline.” But we call it injustice.

The Northern Independence Party started during lockdown. It began with ordinary
Northerners meeting online to talk about how to fix the divide. Within our ranks we count
nurses, doctors, teachers, farmers, lecturers, ex-forces – the list goes on. We are from North
East & West, Cumbria, Cheshire, and Yorkshire.

But we have all reached the same conclusion. The only way to fix the rot at the heart of our
country is through independence. Not devolution. Not mayors. Not assemblies. And certainly
not more politicians. We demand political power – power that is of the North and for the
North.

It’s time to end Westminster rule. It’s time to free the North.

Philip Proudfoot
– Founding Member of NIP

From the Thatcher premiership in the 1980s, to the austerity policies of the last decade and
the total disregard for the North during the pandemic of the last year; The North-South divide
is not getting better, it's getting worse.
We can’t wait any longer for the “generosity” of Westminster to bridge this divide. The
North-South divide can only be resolved by finally giving the North the voice that we have
been denied for far too long; the power to decide our own policy and build our own future
away from the centralised, unequal politics of the United Kingdom.

Decisions and policies that affect the North must be decided by the people of the North; not
by Westminster politicians who either don’t know or don’t care about the unique
circumstances of the North, our needs and the problems we face every day; unwilling to
make the fundamental changes needed to truly address and resolve the North-South Divide.

We will stand up for the North, we will rebuild our left behind towns and communities which
have been devastated by decades of neglect by successive governments. We can ensure
that the wealth and resources of the North are used to benefit the North, rather than being
drained to fuel the ever-growing political and economic dominance of London.

The Northern Independence Party will finally make a government that works tirelessly to
build a free and fair country for all who call the North home. All we need is your support, and
we can make the dream of a free North a reality.

Evie McGovern
– Founding Member of NIP

Who We Are
The Northern Independence Party is a fresh, dynamic, rapidly-growing party, who are
committed to combating the injustice of the north-south divide. We are campaigning for a
referendum on the independence of the North, to be decided by the people of the North. A
newly independent north will be called ‘Northumbria,’ based on the historical region, and will
expand from the current border with Scotland to Cheshire, at its southernmost point.

We are a proudly democratic socialist party, committed to promoting and upholding our
values.
Our Values

Show Solidarity
The North is vibrant and diverse. We recognise the different array of cultures across the
North and want to celebrate the diversity of our people. Across Northumbria, we see our
distinct local histories, dialects, and traditions, which we will fight to protect and preserve.

We reject bigotry and all ideologies based on hatred. The North was, is, and shall remain
international. Northerners are those who identify as such and we welcome refugees who
seek safety and security in the North.

We strive to unite Northerners to support each other and work together to build a
better, fairer, and freer North for all.

Be Decent
We will work to restore decency to all levels of government. For too long, politicians have
taken Northerners for granted, promising ‘regeneration,’ ‘Levelling Up,’ and the creation of a
‘Northern Powerhouse.’ These promises have been broken time and time again. NIP
members elected to any government position will hold themselves accountable to the people
of the North. They will increase transparency and commit to working for all those they
represent, not just those who voted for them. Elected NIP representatives will treat others
well, be honest, and act in good faith.

Help Out
For decades, the Northern economy has been neglected and our industries destroyed or
splintered. Northerners have been made poorer, less healthy, are given fewer educational
opportunities, and live shorter lives, on average, than our southern counterparts. We
recognise that the so-called ‘United Kingdom’ filters people, resources, and jobs to the south
of England. We will help our fellow Northerners by reducing the gap between rich and poor
and end these disparities to increase the quality of life of the average Northerner. We will
restore dignity to all and create a just and fair society. As Northerners, we demand lives
worth living.
Take Part
For too long the North has remained impoverished despite being rich in resources and filled
with talented folk eager to contribute. The North is made up of people from all walks of life -
scientists, artists, teachers, healthcare workers, farmers, factory workers, engineers, and
many more - and together we will create a strong and sustainable economy.

Economic independence means we will gain the means to decarbonise our industries and
create new, green-energy jobs. We will play our part in the fight to preserve and protect
our environment and tackle climate change, for us and for future generations.

Our Policies (Local)

Council Accountability and Participation

● Council meetings are not always accessible to everyone in person, and while
minutes are currently made available these do not always give a clear indication of
people’s behaviour in meetings. This was recently made abruptly clear in the famous
Handforth Parish Council video - even though the meeting took place in December it
did not go viral until the videos appeared easily accessible online in February. We
pledge to make full records of council proceedings available promptly, to help
improve accountability among councillors and ensure that voters can gain a better
understanding of their actions and views.
● Before the pandemic, many council meetings and consultations were held in person
during working hours. This prevented many people from engaging with their council
and making their views heard. Improved digital access to events via video calling and
online consultation processes has hugely increased engagement with local issues.
However, we recognise that not everyones is able to use, or feels comfortable using,
digital technologies, and will ensure that in-person events, consultation and analog
technologies are made available to ensure everyone’s views are heard.
● We will also commit to consulting communities earlier in the planning process, so that
everyone can shape the priorities of local development, and using deliberative
methods to build long-term conversations about what we want our local areas and
communities to be.
● We commit to tackling inequality in our communities by working proactively with
marginalised groups to tackle structural inequalities.
 ● We shall ensure that council pensions and investments are ethically invested, and
divest from harmful industries such as fossil fuels, the arms trade, and countries with
ongoing human rights crises.

Local Economy
● We pledge to use the principles of Community Wealth Building (commonly known as
the Preston Model) to build a prosperous local economy and foster high-quality jobs.
These principles are:
○ Plural ownership of the economy - by promoting co-operatives, municipal
ownership, locally owned small businesses, and insourcing (where councils
bring services in-house instead of outsourcing them).
○ Making financial power work for local places - by promoting local pension
funds, mutual and community banks, and credit unions.
○ Fair employment and just labour markets - by working with local institutions to
implement a real living wage, support local unions, and recruit locally.
○ Progressive procurement of goods and services - by making use of local
businesses and suppliers wherever possible, and working with local
institutions to help them do the same.
○ Socially productive use of land and property - by using community land trusts
or public-commons partnerships to keep public land available for public use.
● We will pay council workers the real living wage, calculated by the Living Wage
Foundation to be £9.50 per hour. Where it’s appropriate and can be done without
compromising service quality or opening hours, we will trial a 4 day work week, with
the corresponding real living wage of £11.90 per hour.
● We will offer long-term grants to CICs (community interest companies) and other
social enterprises. The north has many wonderful community groups all striving to
make the world a better place. We will provide long term operational grants to these
social enterprises so people can actually earn a wage while doing good. Just
because something doesn’t make a profit, doesn’t mean it is not important.
● We support a Green Industrial Rebirth and will work towards supporting this on a
local level, through local renewable energy initiatives, supporting the creation of local
jobs in green construction and land stewardship, and work to ensure that the profits
of green industries are reinvested locally.
Social Dignity
● We will support Universal Basic Income (UBI) trials to help people now and build the
case for a national UBI. We will expand the trials of UBI currently being undertaken
by local authorities in the north. The current model is to give every adult £400 per
month to spend as they see fit, regardless of their income or savings. Trials in
Scandinavian countries have shown that this improves people’s mental health and
wellbeing and boosts the local economy.
● All northerners should have the chance to put down roots in the community and have
safe, comfortable and affordable housing. We will follow the lead of councils such as
Norwich City Council in building new high-quality social housing that is energy
efficient, suitable for everyone from pensioners to new families and young people just
starting out in life, and available at affordable social rents.
● Housing is a human right. We will Implement a Housing First policy for tackling
homelessness, where there are no conditions around ‘readiness’ before providing
someone with safe housing. Housing First is an evidence-based approach which has
been piloted in Newcastle and Greater Manchester. Secure housing is needed first
before a person can address other issues they may be experiencing. These issues
may have led to, or were exacerbated by, homelessness, such as mental health
needs or trauma from domestic violence and abuse.
● We aim to follow harm reduction principles when it comes to drug use and sex work,
accepting that sex work and substance use is a part of our world and choose to
minimise harmful effects rather than ignore or condemn the people affected. This will
include following the lead of other local councils in safely monitoring and providing
resources to sex workers and increasing funding to harm reduction programmes,
such as needle and syringe distribution and peer distribution of naloxone. Similar
schemes have been successfully implemented in Glasgow, and piloted by
EuroNPUD in Burnley, Liverpool, and Blackpool.
● Access to healthy food is a human right and northerners should not have to rely on
food banks. We will support organisations working to create a sustainable and just
local food economy, by providing grants, working with them to create sustainable
supply chains, and helping connect residents with their services. Until such time that
we can eradicate the need for food banks, our councillors will not place arbitrary
restrictions on access to them and will support food justice policies.
Community and Culture
● Westminster austerity has crippled funding for our libraries and community venues.
Ideally, we would simply increase funding for libraries to adequate levels, but that
power is in the Tory government’s hands. We will do what we can to replace that
funding and increase library coverage by making commercial tenancy in some
Council properties conditional on hosting library branches or other community
spaces, freely accessible to all. Where possible, we will also bring libraries back into
council or community ownership.
● We are dedicated to combating social isolation and supporting vulnerable groups in
the community. We will promote the use of libraries, leisure centres, outdoor
education centres, and other community venues to host free activity groups that
support the physical and mental wellbeing of our communities.
● We will support local artists, cultural networks, and charities by offering grants, using
council owned spaces for workshops and studios, or working with local property
owners to make vacant properties available at heavily discounted rates. We will also
prioritise local artists when commissioning works.
● We will support mutual aid groups by providing grants, access to public spaces,
expertise and facilitating connections between people and organisations who want to
help. We will also guarantee the independence that is a key tenet of mutual aid.
● We will support local independent newspapers and journalism by writing for them,
taking out adverts, and providing grants to new organisations.

Infrastructure
● Ensuring that essential utilities, such as energy and water, are provided by a publicly
owned/community not for profit group helps to ensure that what they provide is the
service that is most beneficial to the people in the local area, not to provide profit to
shareholders. Bringing these groups into councils could also help to increase long
term and holistic planning.
● The recent national bus strategy essentially requires all Local Authorities to form
“enhanced partnerships” with operators. These give councils extra rights to regulate
services. These include the right to create multi-operator zonal passes, valid on a
choice of modes. We would exercise these rights and others to do as much as
possible to improve the bus network, and utilise the extra money promised by the bus
national strategy to improve the coverage of the bus network. We would also
recognise the needs of people living near county borders, and ensure services/tickets
 do not arbitrarily stop/start at these lines and instead reflect where people wish to
travel.
● We would ensure that proper segregated provision for cyclists is at the forefront of
every development and road changing scheme. As well as ensuring there is a
continual rolling improvement on other routes. We know that cycle infrastructure is
not just a sign. The pandemic has shown how many people would like to cycle but
currently feel unable due to road traffic, it is important that we capitalize on this
momentum. We also know that many people, particularly those in flats/HMOs, are in
a position that means they are unable to securely store a bike. We would therefore
commit to providing on-street bike hangers to ensure that everyone who wants to can
cycle.
● Bike rentals have been shown to be a popular way of traveling around city centers,
especially for trips to cities away from where they live. They often pair well with rail
travel and getting the last mile to/from stations at the destination end - reducing car
journeys. E-bikes are also prohibitively expensive for many and the ability to quickly,
easily and cheaply rent them has the potential to massively increase their reach. We
believe that such programmers can be best managed and offer the widest benefits by
being council owned, therefore helping to ensure that they are managed in the
interest of everyone and not just their users.
● People have a right to privacy and should not be at risk of being tracked
electronically through facial recognition technology while out and about in public. The
practicality of this technology is increasing significantly and it can be easily used in
areas without people knowing or having any idea that they are being tracked.
● The covid-19 pandemic has highlighted the need for good quality internet access -
access many, especially in rural areas, do not have. As more jobs move to working
from home, people without broadband access face a significant risk of finding
themselves with reduced options for employment. We will work with service providers
to improve broadband coverage, and will provide free internet access at all council
properties.
● Councils have significantly reduced the number of public toilets available. Use of a
toilet is a basic right and something which everyone needs to do when out and about.
The alternatives that some people are forced into are undignified, unsanitary and
unpleasant for everyone. We would commit to adding more, and ensuring that they
are open all hours and accessible to those with disabilities.
Agriculture and Environment
● We will plant more trees and create more accessible green spaces & increase the
number of and access to community allotments. By increasing the amount and
access to community allotments, planting utility fruit trees, and supporting local
producers we will increase food security for the people of the north.
● We will implement food waste recycling. Too much food goes to landfill right now - we
will reduce the amount of food that goes to waste and recycle that which does in
community-owned anaerobic digesters, which will produce biogas to reduce fuel
poverty in the north.
● Meet existing recycling commitments (50% of waste) and ensure all waste sent for
recycling is actually recycled and not sent abroad and make sure that all areas of the
north have the same access to recycling facilities, ending the postcode lottery of what
you can recycle where. Why can they recycle glass on the next road over but you
can’t?
● Bring more public space into commons ownership. Far too much land has been shut
off from public use, we will increase the amount of land that the people of the north
have access to by opening up government owned land.
● Expand and join up existing public rights of way to develop a nationwide system of
safe walking routes so people can enjoy the beauty of Northumbria no matter where
they live.
● Improve air quality by providing incentive to get diesel vehicles off the roads and
reduce the amount of car needs by improving public transport systems and
increasing cycling infrastructure.
● Ensuring that planning permission is only given to buildings which are
environmentally sustainable in the long term.

Our Policies (National)

Our Approach to Westminster

While our ultimate aim is independence for the north of England and the dismantling of the
Westminster system, we recognise that for the time being we will have to fight the system
from within. Our MPs will advocate for the North and will work with other parties to push for
policies that improve the lives of those in the North and elsewhere in the UK.
Our Stances on Recent High-profile Bills
On the following recent bills our MPs would have voted to protect our human rights and
prevent the expansion of police powers:
● The Policing, Crime, Sentencing and Courts bill currently making its way through
Parliament constitutes a massive increase in police powers, restricts our ability to
protest to the point of uselessness, and turns trespass from a civil matter to a
criminal one. These measures only serve to criminalise vulnerable populations such
as the GRT community and rough sleepers. They also fail to address the root causes
of issues such as violence against women and as such we would oppose this bill.
● The Covert Human Intelligence Sources (Criminal Conduct) Bill, reported on as the
“Spycops Bill”, made it legal for undercover police to commit criminal offenses. This
increases the likelihood that undercover officers will act as instigators of violence or
commit violence against members of the general public and as such we would have
voted against this bill.

Economy
● We believe the UK needs a Green Industrial Rebirth - massive investment in green
jobs to tackle climate change. We will vote in favour of increased investment in the
green economy we need.
● We believe the national minimum wage should be the same for everyone over the
age of 16, and that it should be raised to match increases in the cost of living. We will
vote for minimum wage increases and advocate for a real living wage.
● We are committed to closing the gender and race pay gap and creating true equality
for everyone in a free north.
● We will advocate for reversing the increase in pension age, people have paid into the
system their whole lives and it is not fair to move the goalposts.
● We will advocate for shorter working hours and better stability for those on precarious
contracts. Corporations should not be allowed to pretend their workers are
‘independent contractors’ when they are not - every worker should have their full
complement of rights.
● We will vote in favour of increasing NHS funding and push for a 15% pay increase for
NHS staff.
● We will vote against any increase in tuition fees and will support efforts to
reduce/eliminate student debt, as well as supporting increased maintenance grants
for students and overall higher education funding.
Social Dignity
● We will support and call for a Housing First policy for tackling homelessness.
● We value mental health equally with physical health and understand that mental and
physical health are inextricably linked. We will increase funding for mental health
services on the NHS and commit to improving access to mental health treatment
through the recruitment and grant-funded training of mental health professionals,
including school counsellors. We care about the mental health of children and young
people and will push for every school having access to a counsellor.
● We will call for reform of transgender healthcare in England to decentralise care to
GPs and specialists, ending the gatekeeping of the Gender Identity Clinics (GICs),
and for legislation to protect trans teens’ access to puberty blockers, which are a
proven, safe and reversible way to give them time to decide whether they want to
medically transition.
● We will vote to roll back restrictions on the use of medicinal cannabis for appropriate
conditions, and to allow GPs, not just specialist doctors, to prescribe to those in
need. We believe that cannabis should be legalised, as it has across much of the US
and Canada, and will favour harm reduction approaches to other illegal drugs.
● We condemn the demonisation of refugees and the totalitarian Hostile Environment
policy, and call for the United Kingdom to abide by its obligations under international
law to provide refuge to all those who come to us fleeing oppression.
● Islamophobia is a rising danger in the United Kingdom, with prominent voices openly
fomenting hate, and the Prevent program subjecting ordinary Muslims to baseless
suspicion and surveillance. We will take a stand against it, and will not allow
Islamophobic rhetoric to go unchallenged in Parliament.

Infrastructure and Energy

● We recognise the current climate emergency, and will push for an increase in the use
of renewable energy sources, electrification of transport, and the development of
zero-carbon alternatives to other sources of carbon dioxide emissions.
● We believe the ultra-centralised Westminster system is unviable and ruinous for the
North. We will vote in favour of measures to give greater autonomy to local councils
to raise money and to improve public transport and other infrastructure.
● The Covid-19 pandemic has highlighted that broadband internet access is a basic
necessity, not a luxury. We will vote in favour of measures to improve internet access,
especially in rural areas, and reduce its cost to the user.
● To fight climate change, it is vital that we take fewer car journeys and use more
 efficient public transport. We will vote to provide more funding to increase the amount
of public transport available and expand the network to ensure that all areas are
covered. In particular, we will support measures to improve east-west connections
within the North.

Agriculture and Environment

● We support a sustainable farming industry that:

○ Supports farmers, rural employment and the rural economy.
○ Protects and enhances soil, including its structure, organic matter, fertility and
soil life.
○ Minimises greenhouse gas emissions by increasing renewable energy and
promoting natural carbon sequestration.
● We know that many farmers are under significant financial pressure. The transition to
a sustainable mode of agriculture is a public good and, as such, the costs should be
supported by the public.
● We favour an increase in the penalties for sheep worrying, and will vote for measures
to ensure that farmers are properly compensated.
● Our food standards should not be watered down to allow heavily-subsidised
American producers to flood our market with unhealthy, unethical products. As such,
we will favour subsidies for low-intensity grass-fed meat production. We will oppose
attempts to roll back regulations that protect the quality of our food and the incomes
of rural people.
● We will vote in favour of tree planting and rewilding initiatives in order to preserve the
UK’s natural environment for future generations, and vote for bills that allow farmers
to play a part in these initiatives.

Community and Culture

● We will vote for increased funding for local councils so that they are better able to
serve their communities.
● We support efforts to preserve the North’s cultural assets and heritage, and will fight
against the transfer of these assets to London and the South.
● We will oppose government interference with the National Trust and other heritage
organisations.
● We will support increased funding in education, and oppose the government cuts to
so called ‘non-essential topics’ such as the arts and humanities.
Our Vision for an Independent North

In an independent North, we won’t be in charge - you will. We believe in shifting power

away from politicians and putting it into the hands of ordinary people. Northumbria’s
constitution should be written by a constitutional assembly - a grand convention in which
ordinary people come together to hear arguments from all sides and decide the best way to
proceed - and ratified by a referendum of every Northerner.

Local decisions should be made at a local level, where they can be most accountable
to local people. The Westminster system is one of the most centralised in the world.
Powers that should rightly belong at the level of the county, city, or town are monopolised by
Parliament and the central government. Even cities in China have more autonomous powers
than cities in the UK. It’s inefficient, ineffective, and insensitive to local needs.

We want to put an end to that. Whereas in the UK, every power is held by Parliament unless
the government deigns to hand it down to a lower level, in the free North we believe in, every
power should be held at the local level unless there’s a good reason to lend it to a higher
one. Our most fundamental belief is that we all have the right to determine our own destiny,
and that’s much easier to do when power is local, democratic and accountable.

The Northern Independence Party believes that through independence, we have the
opportunity to decentralise our society and create regional equality, while maintaining our
proud, unique, and distinctive local identities. Building on our northern tradition of solidarity,
we want to unite the north and reduce regional inequalities through a system of federalism.
Regional governments will ensure that local people are in charge of their affairs and there is
a fair distribution of power, while recognising that as northerners working together, we are
stronger at the international level. NIP is committed to ensuring that no region in the north
will be left behind.

Socialism doesn’t mean the state owns everything. We want to reduce centralised
power, not increase it. Our vision of the North is one where co-operatives, locally-owned
businesses, social enterprises, and community-owned enterprises work together in an
economic democracy - one that is flexible and dynamic, not because it rides roughshod over
the lives of working people, but because it gives workers and communities the power to
come together, decide what needs to be done, and do it, instead of being slaves to
shareholder profits.

Where it makes sense for industries to be nationalised - such as the utilities, the NHS, and
public transport - we would want to make sure they had independent oversight by ordinary
Northerners. The infrastructure of our everyday lives should not be a political football, or a
means for career politicians to demonstrate that they’re ‘doing something’ or to hand out
contracts and kickbacks to their friends. Our watchword isn’t ‘power to the party’ or ‘power to
the bureaucrats’ - it’s ‘power to the people’.

An independent North will put the power in your hands.

FAQs
Is this a party aimed at the whole of the north or does it operate along class lines?
How do you manage the sometimes disparate political views of affluent areas in the
likes of North Yorkshire with poor inner city areas of Manchester or Middlesbrough?
● Our aim is to represent the whole of the North and everyone that lives here. But we
make no apology for being predominantly a working class party. The working class
feel the brunt of the North-South divide and it is their voices that are ignored. Affluent
areas are also home to working class people, and their experience of poverty can
differ from others. This is why we need more members from different areas and
backgrounds so everyone can be represented. We are a democratic party - if those
of a more affluent background wish to have a say then they are welcome to join.

Where’s the capital going to be?

● We don’t want to reproduce the Westminster dynamic, where everything revolves
around a single capital and everywhere else is thrown into its shadow. We’re looking
into a number of alternatives, such as having multiple different capitals for different
functions, or having a Parliament that moves periodically between major Northern
cities. At the end of the day, though, it will be for the Northern people to decide.

Where’s the border?

● Our current proposal includes all of the North East, North West, Yorkshire and the
Humber, and High Peak. Constituencies immediately south of the border will be
 offered the chance to join through referendum. [note for graphic design team: insert
map here]

Will an independent Northumbria join the EU?

● The majority of people in the UK voted to leave the EU, and this was confirmed by
the election of Boris Johnson in 2019. Brexit is done, we have left. The Northern
Independence party is committed to democracy and making the best of our new
relationship with the EU and the rest of the world, and to holding the government to
the promises they made about this new relationship. If, however, the people of the
free North want to rejoin the EU at some point in the distant future, then that is a
decision for the people - and not any political party - to make.

Will we keep the Queen?

● Many people in the North love the royal family, and it is not for us as a party to decide
this. If enough people in a free North want to keep the Queen as head of state, as
she is in many commonwealth countries, then she will be asked to be. If the majority
of people want to be a republic, then we will be. Either way, this will be decided by a
referendum in a free North.

Will an independent Northumbria use the First Past the Post (FPTP) voting system?
● This is for the constitutional assembly to decide, but we believe in democracy and in
making votes count. We will explore ways of making our democratic system work for
everyone, and argue against the use of FPTP.

Why Northumbria?
● Northumbria is the historic name of the regions we consider “The North”, formed from
the merged kingdoms of Deira and Bernicia in the 7th century, and meaning “North of
the Humber”. We have chosen it because this period of history was one of great
achievements for the North (such as the Lindisfarne Gospels), and it represents the
last time the North was united in an independent entity.

Why red and yellow?

● This is the historic flag of Northumbria, it was the standard of St. Oswald, the founder
of Northumbria and is one of the oldest flags in the world. Originally it was purple and
yellow but later versions use red, hence our fetching burgundy and yellow!

How will you afford it?

 ● Once we are free of Westminster, we will be able to control our own currency and
decide our own fiscal policy without being burdened with the cost of expensive vanity
projects that we neither want nor need. Within the Party, we are currently strategising
and consulting with economists to determine what we believe will create the best
economic outcome in an independent North. We know that the UK has an
unproductive low-growth economy based on rent-seeking and the position of London
as a financial hub - the hub around which Westminster economic policy revolves, with
destructive effects for Northern industry. An independent North would have the
opportunity to take back control, green its economy and democratise it - and stop
funnelling its people, wealth and resources to London and the South-East. The real
question is not whether we can afford independence - it’s whether we can afford to
do without it.

What currency would we use?

● This depends entirely on the political landscape at the time of independence. We
don’t know what the relationship between the pound, the euro, and other currencies
will look like when we gain independence. There are important factors to consider on
all sides - while introducing a new currency has costs, and would be disruptive, it
could also make it easier to invest in rebuilding our hollowed-out industries, and
make our exports more competitive on international markets. What we can say is that
decisions about our currency should be based on the will of the people and the
advice of economic experts in the circumstances of the time.

Would it not be more realistic/effective to put pressure on Westminster to respond to

local, policy-based demands rather than pursuing Independence?
● We will be doing both. Even with a government programme as radical and
transformative as in 1945, until we address how the UK is structured, the power
relations within it will never change. The North needs a Northern parliament, with
federal regions for Cumbria, the North-East, Yorkshire, Lancashire, Merseyside, and
whatever regions from the Midlands decide to join the North. But because spreading
power across England goes against the interests of the Westminster system, this
won’t happen - and we can’t trust a country geared towards the South to make it
happen.

Authors: Heather Oldfield, Meredith Knowles, Oliver Milne, Alex Dhawan, Craig Munns