Yorkshire First? The European Dimension of Regionalist Mobilization in the North of England

The debate over issues of regionalism and nationalism in the UK has traditionally focussed on the cases of Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland and Cornwall. For a long time, England was seen as the ‘odd man out’ in this context. In the face of this, issues of governance and devolution in England have conventionally been framed by mainstream parties, and led to a form of functional regionalisation characterised by the absence of regionalist parties. Yet, in the wake of the 2014 Scottish independence referendum, the regional permutations of the so-called ‘English Question’ have started to surface – particularly in the areas with a stronger sense of territorial identity, such as the North of England. Crucially, 2014 saw the birth of the first regionalist party in the North: Yorkshire First (YF) – followed a few months later by the North East Party and the Campaign for the North. The aim of this paper is to shed light on these ‘new regional voices’ in the North in the context of Europe, using the case study of Yorkshire First. In particular, the analysis will focus on: the structures, organisation and membership of YF; the key issues and claims that define YF’s agenda – with a particular emphasis on the role played by the European dimension. To achieve this, the paper draws on the results of a unique membership survey of YF, elite interviews with YF coordinators and a content analysis of YF’s official documents and manifestos. The findings show that the European dimension is of crucial importance in assessing the prospects of YF because if, on the one hand, party elites sees in Europe a great potential for YF’s expansion, on the other its membership appears to hold diverse and often sceptical views towards the EU – privileging purely regional allegiances over European ambitions.