AHC: A British Lega Nord

For those who don't know a great deal about Italian politics (you bastards), Lega Nord (or "Northern League") is an Italian regionalist party dedicated to providing more autonomy for...you guessed it, the North regions of the country. They allied with Berlusconi during his time in office, and were ever so slightly xenophobic. However, in the recent past they've turned more dramatically to the right and could be argued to be Italy's equivalent of the Front National.

Now, my question is, could something similar happen in Britain? A region-specific party turning drastically to the right? To dip into future history for a second, I think something of the sort could happen with the Yorkshire party depending on how successful it is in a few years. If we want to get really really fucked, you could try Lega Nord-ing the SNP or Plaid Cymru.
 

RyanF

Banned
Well for the SNP it'd be more a case of keeping them the Tartan Tories with a gooey Orange centre, if they don't swing left in the 80s (maybe the 79 Group joins with the remnants of Sillars' SLP) and keep to the path they were on could very well become TartanKIP by the turn of the Millennium.

The trouble with a League of Oop North is getting a single group claiming to represent the whole North of England (for sake of argument let's define that as the North East, North West, and Yorkshire) to gain critical mass. Look at the various devolutionist parties.

Another option would be or the DUP to start contesting seats in Merseyside and Scotland - not a conventional definition of the North, but might the easiest way to gain a Lega Norn.
 
Isn't Lega Nord strongly predicated on ethnic antagonism in northern Italy towards the South? That Southerners are 'spongers' etc etc, which arises from the lengthy dominant economic position of the North?

A British LN analogue in contemporary times would surely have to arise in London and the South East, not the North or Scotland - though that would be intensely difficult because Britain doesn't have anything close to the regional history that Italy has.
 
A Scottish or Welsh version of Lega Nord is doable. Perhaps you could make sectarianism even worse in Scotland, and have the SNP exploit those divisions to win votes off of one side of the population or the other, and develop into something like the DUP. This wouldn't be all that difficult to do, in the twenties, the Church of Scotland called for the end to all Irish Catholic immigration and the deporting any of those in hospital, prison, or living off the poor laws, and it was reportedly given serious consideration by the cabinet in Westminster. Something like that could turn the heat right up.

It would be quite difficult to get a viable regionalist party going in the North right now. One way in which they could get a leg up is if regional assemblies are brought in at some point for the northern english regions. If they were elected by PR, its not entirely implausible that a regionalist party could find its way into them, and then gradually build up support as the main parties are all discredited, much like happened in the coalition years, only this time the vacuum is filled by regionalist parties that mainly play on socially conservative themes like anti immigration and demand greater powers to their respective regions. They could then use that as a springboard to become a force in national politics, much like UKIP (and to a lesser extent, the Greens) have done with the European Parliament.
 
Isn't Lega Nord strongly predicated on ethnic antagonism in northern Italy towards the South? That Southerners are 'spongers' etc etc, which arises from the lengthy dominant economic position of the North?

A British LN analogue in contemporary times would surely have to arise in London and the South East, not the North or Scotland - though that would be intensely difficult because Britain doesn't have anything close to the regional history that Italy has.
Historically yes, but in the last years the new Lega Nord leader, Matteo Salvini, concluded that he can take more votes if he uses as common "enemy" immigrants and not southern people anymore.
 
Isn't Lega Nord strongly predicated on ethnic antagonism in northern Italy towards the South? That Southerners are 'spongers' etc etc, which arises from the lengthy dominant economic position of the North?

A British LN analogue in contemporary times would surely have to arise in London and the South East, not the North or Scotland - though that would be intensely difficult because Britain doesn't have anything close to the regional history that Italy has.
True but regional identity is much weaker in the South of England , for example you can foten see Northumberland flags flying or on number stickers. If a Northern League equivalent were to develop in the South I see being similar to the English Democrats rather than a Wessex party for example
 
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