THE New Local Government Network has worked out there are not enough members of the House of Lords from the North of England. It certainly feels like that!

In the North West we have half the number of peers we are entitled to on the basis of our population, and it’s the same in Yorkshire.

No surprise, London and the rest of the South are over-represented.

Here in Lancashire, apart from myself we just have Lord Taylor of Blackburn (former Council leader Tom Taylor) and Lord Patel, and two former pillars of the County Council – Baroness (Josie) Farrington and Baroness (Ruth) Henig, from Preston and Lancaster respectively. Out of 730 members.

The same study claims that North of England peers are on the whole better attenders than our London colleagues, which is ironic, though it may be partly due to the fact that like the Grand old Duke of York of nursery rhyme fame, “when we are there we are there”.

It contributes to the feeling that the North of England is more like a colony of the imperial power in the South East than an equal part of the realm.

Our councils, local quangos and representatives in parliament alike are for ever having to go cap in hand to prise away the resources we need from the grasp of the greedy south.

How much more this is the case in places like Burnley and Pendle which are remote not just from London but from the big cities of Manchester, Liverpool which are expert at grabbing what's going.

It used to be the same in Scotland and Wales but what a difference their Parliament and Assembly – now in their ninth year – are making.

Their own elected representatives and governments making decisions locally on the basis of their own needs.

Some people think the answer is to get a separate English Parliament but that is obvious nonsense.

Others think the answer lies in new super-councils and quangos based in Blackburn or even Preston – but how will abolishing our own local democratic structures here help?

Electing the House of Lords would give us a fairer share, but Jack Straw has again kicked that idea into the long grass!

It's hard to not to be gloomy about these things.