On 7 March 2000 an Early Day Motion was tabled in the House of Commons to coincide with the launch of the Campaign for the English Regions.
It soon garnered over 140 signatures, including over 115 Labour backbenchers, 4 Labour Chairs of Commons Select Committees, 10 members of the Lib Dem Shadow Cabinet, and notable former Ministers like Peter Kilfoyle, Tony Lloyd, Ron Davies, David Clark, Doug Henderson, Win Griffiths and Glenda Jackson.
The motion said:
That this House welcomes the creation of the Campaign for the English Regions; believes that it will succeed in its aim to bring diverse strands of political, social and cultural opinion together to unite behind a call for directly elected Regional Assemblies; wholeheartedly supports the current work undertaken by campaigns and constitutional conventions in the different English regions and welcomes all efforts to speed up the process for devolution for the regions of England in order that they too can join Scottish, Welsh and London counterparts in enjoying the positive benefits of decentralised decision-making.
Sponsored by Louise Ellman MP, the other signatories were:
- Allan, Richard
- Atherton, Candy
- Austin, John
- Ballard, Jackie
- Begg, Anne
- Beith, AJ
- Benn, Tony
- Bennett, Andrew F
- Bermingham, Gerald
- Best, Harold
- Blears, Hazel
- Borrow, David
- Bradley, Peter
- Bradshaw, Ben
- Brand, Peter
- Brinton, Helen
- Brown, Russell
- Bruce, Malcolm
- Campbell, Alan
- Campbell, Ronnie
- Campbell-Savours, DN
- Canavan, Dennis
- Casale, Roger
- Cawsey, Ian
- Chaytor, David
- Chidgey, David
- Clapham, Michael
- Clark, David
- Clarke, Tony
- Clwyd, Ann
- Connarty, Michael
- Cook, Frank
- Corbyn, Jeremy
- Cotter, Brian
- Cousins, Jim
- Crausby, David
- Cryer, Ann
- Cunningham, Jim
- Davey, Valerie
- Davidson, Ian
- Davies, Geraint
- Davies, Ron
- Davis, Terry
- Dawson, Hilton
- Dean, Janet
- Dobbin, Jim
- Drew, David
- Ennis, Jeff
- Etherington, Bill
- Fearn, Ronnie
- Follett, Barbara
- Foster, Don
- Fyfe, Maria
- George, Bruce
- Gibson, Ian
- Godman, Norman A
- Graham, Thomas
- Griffiths, Win
- Gunnell, John
- Hall, Patrick
- Hancock, Mike
- Harvey, Nick
- Henderson, Doug
- Hopkins, Kelvin
- Hoyle, Lindsay
- Humble, Joan
- Iddon, Brian
- Jackson, Glenda
- Jones, Ieuan Wyn
- Jones, Jenny
- Jones, Lynne
- Jones, Martyn
- Jones, Nigel
- Kemp, Fraser
- Kilfoyle, Peter
- Kumar, Ashok
- Ladyman, Stephen
- Laxton, Bob
- Lloyd, Tony
- Llwyd, Elfyn
- Love, Andrew
- Macdonald, Calum
- Mackinlay, Andrew
- Maclennan, Robert
- Mahon, Alice
- Marsden, Gordon
- Marsden, Paul
- McAllion, John
- McCafferty, Chris
- McDonnell, John
- McNamara, Kevin
- McWalter, Tony
- McWilliam, John
- Meale, Alan
- Miller, Andrew
- Mitchell, Austin
- Moffatt, Laura
- Naysmith, Doug
- O’Hara, Edward
- Olner, Bill
- Organ, Diana
- Pike, Peter L
- Pollard, Kerry
- Quinn, Lawrie
- Rammell, Bill
- Reed, Andrew
- Rendel, David
- Ross, Ernie
- Salter, Martin
- Sanders, Adrian
- Sarwar, Mohammad
- Sawford, Phil
- Simpson, Alan
- Singh, Marsha
- Smyth, Martin
- Southworth, Helen
- Starkey, Phyllis
- Steinberg, Gerry
- Stewart, Ian
- Stunell, Andrew
- Taylor, Dari
- Taylor, David
- Temple-Morris, Peter
- Tonge, Jenny
- Trickett, Jon
- Turner, Dennis
- Turner, Neil
- Vis, Rudi
- Wareing, Robert N
- Watts, Dave
- White, Brian
- Whitehead, Alan
- Wigley, Dafydd
- Williams, Alan W
- Williams, Betty
- Willis, Phil
- Winterton, Rosie
- Wise, Audrey
- Wray, Jimmy
- Wright, Anthony D
- Wright, Tony
- Wyatt, Derek