Audlem vote reported in Australia

Audlem Online's roving freelance reporter in Australia, Jonty Smith, has just filed the following report from Melbourne, Victoria.

Stop press – Just thought that you would like to know that the news about the village becoming Welsh has spread down under! I found the following news item in a Melbourne evening free paper that is distributed at the major railway stations. Plenty of readers.

Villagers want to Welsh on Poms

An English village is holding a referendum on defecting to Wales – for benefits such as free prescriptions and free hospital car parking. Residents of Audlem, Cheshire, 15 km from the Welsh border have organised an online poll asking villagers whether it is time to break away from England.

The village is unlikely to come under the control of the Welsh Assembly any time soon, reports the Daily Telegraph, but residents say the poll will tell politicians there is an issue of increasing inequality between countries in Britain.

Residents have so far voted 63% in favour of joining Wales with 37% opposed.

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