THE LEADER of Hampshire County Council has welcomed the decision of the Scottish people to remain part of the United Kingdom.

Hampshire County Council had flown the Union Jack daily for the last two weeks to demonstrate support for the Union but today it has flown the Cross of St Andrew alongside the Union Jack as a show of support for the decision made by 55 per cent of Scottish people. 

County Council leader Councillor Perry said there was unanimous support from Hampshire County Councillors expressed at their meeting yesterday in Winchester for retaining the United Kingdom.

As leader of Hampshire County Council, Cllr Perry, will now be writing to the Prime Minister David Cameron, urging that any devolution proposals for England should be based on the ancient shires such as Hampshire including their great cities, with no need for new artificial regions.

Cllr Perry said: "England is one of the most centralised countries in the world and it needs to loosen up. Hampshire is one of the oldest counties, first recorded in the Anglo Saxon Chronicle as Ham-Tun-Scire in 757 AD. So Hampshire pre-dates a united England. It is also one of the most successful counties in the country.

“It is the third most populous county and if you include the two great and historic cities of Portsmouth and Southampton, the population of two million people begins to approach that of Wales.

“Wales already has devolved powers and now if the northern cities are to gain devolved powers then people in the great shires of England must not be treated as second class citizens.”

He added: “I shall be writing to all the MPs from Hampshire urging them to press in Parliament for devolved powers to this part of the country. English Parliaments met many times in the Great Hall at Winchester and I am considering inviting Hampshire’s present MPs to the Great Hall.

“On the wall of the Great Hall, opposite the Round Table, their predecessor MPs as the knights of the shires who represented us in Parliament, are listed from the 13th century to the 19th century.

"I am urging Hampshire’s present MPs to ensure Hampshire hogs gain more powers to control their own affairs. I support devolution to Scotland and Wales and the northern cities but what is good for them is good for us.”