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Wessex Regionalists

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Wessex Regionalists
LeaderJim Gunter
Founded1974
Headquarters18 Quaker Court
St John Street
Thornbury
Bristol
Membership (2021)21[1]
IdeologyWessex regionalism
Agrarianism[2]
ColoursSea green, red and gold
Website
wessexregionalists.info

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.

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

History

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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

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

Electoral performance

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Westminster elections

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Election Candidate Constituency Votes[18] %
1974 (February) Viscount Weymouth Westbury 521 0.8
1979 Colin Bex Windsor & Maidenhead 251 0.4
Henrietta Rous Devon North 50 0.1
Gwendoline Ewen Dorset West 192 0.4
Michael Mahoney Winchester 392 0.6
Viscount Weymouth Wells 155 0.3
Anthony Mockler Devizes 142 0.2
Tom Thatcher Westbury 1,905 3.0
1983 Anthony Mockler Wantage 183 0.4
Colin Bex Windsor & Maidenhead 68 0.1
Henrietta Rous Devon West & Torridge 113 0.2
David Fox Dorset North 294 0.6
Simon Winkworth Winchester 155 0.3
Adam Stout Wansdyke 213 0.4
David Robins Woodspring 177 0.3
Gwendoline Ewen Devizes 234 0.4
Maya Kemp Salisbury 182 0.3
John Banks Westbury 131 0.8
1997 Colin Bex Portsmouth North 72 0.2
2001 Colin Bex Wells 167 0.3
Henrietta Rous Winchester 66 0.1
2005 Colin Bex Dorset South 83 0.2
2010 Colin Bex Witney 62 0.1
2013(b) Colin Bex Eastleigh 30 0.1
2015 Colin Bex Witney 110 0.2
2017 Jim Gunter Devizes 223 0.4

European Parliament elections

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Election Candidate Constituency Votes %

1979

Viscount Weymouth Wessex 1,706 0.8
1984 Henrietta Rous Devon 659 0.3
1989 Gwendoline Ewen Bristol 1,017 0.5
Henrietta Rous Devon 385 0.2
Anthony Mockler Somerset and Dorset West 930 0.4

References

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  1. ^ "Wessex Regionalists". Electoral Commission. 13 September 2022.
  2. ^ a b c d e f 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. 18 September 2014.
  6. ^ "Regionalists pull out", Reading Evening Post page 5, 28 May 1987
  7. ^ Daily Express page 29, 23 June 1999
  8. ^ a b 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. ^ a b "Middle England's immigration referendum". 14 June 2016.
  11. ^ "Brexit dominates discussion at hustings for Devizes candidates". The Wiltshire Gazette and Herald. 31 May 2017. 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. ^ a b "Why can't Wessex be recognised as National Minority like Cornwall?". Daily Echo. 28 April 2014.
  16. ^ a b "Could Hampshire have more power over its own destiny?". Daily Echo. 21 September 2014.
  17. ^ Byrne, Eugene (7 June 2017). "Bristol's fringe political candidates throughout the years".
  18. ^ Banks (1986)

Sources

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  • Banks, John C. (1986). "The Regionalist (No. 8)". The Regionalist. Houghton-le-Spring: John Ellis. ISSN 0264-522X.
  • Wessex Regionalists (1996). The Statute of Wessex. Cheltenham: Wessex Regionalists. ISBN 0-9508721-0-5.
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