THE demand for the North West to have its own parliament - being put by the deputy leader of Lancashire County Council - is one that may fall on the ears of a government that seems to have now gone deaf to calls for more devolution.
But it cannot, in justice, ignore such appeals from regions like ours - not when Scotland and Wales, with smaller populations and economies than ours, have won the right to control much more of their own affairs.
Why should English regions be excluded, particularly when they are still ruled at Westminster by MPs representing devolved Scottish and Welsh constituencies?
The North West needs a voice and institution that speaks up for the region and gets it a fair share of the national cake.
Should it ever get one, it must be a body that truly represents the whole of the North West, not just the interests of the Manchester and Liverpool conurbations.
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