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Blair's devolution

policy fails to

impress voters

EDINBURGH: Returning power to Britain's regions, a key policy of Tony Blair's Labour government, has failed to impress voters, according to a poll to be published on Tuesday in The Scotsman newspaper.

The poll shows a majority of voters believe the new parliaments in Scotland and Wales, set up last year to take over a raft of powers from the Westminster parliament in London, have failed to deliver greater benefits to the Scottish and Welsh people.

The ICM poll, the first in-depth study of public reaction throughout Britain, suggests the biggest problem facing devolution is not hostility but disappointment.

Just 37 percent of Scots believe the parliament has been good for Scotland, while 16 percent think it has been bad and 41 percent say it has made no difference.

In Wales, where the assembly has more limited power than in Scotland, the picture is even more negative.

A total of 48 percent say it has achieved nothing at all, 40 percent think it has achieved a little and four percent say it has achieved a lot. ICM questioned 1,509 people in Scotland, Wales and England between February 14 and 18.ÑAFP