Missing out on devolution is far worse for England than being left out of the union flag is for Wales

CEP Press Release: 29 Nov 2007

The Welsh MP Ian Lucas has called for the Union Jack to be changed to incorporate a Welsh symbol. He wants the flag to reflect all the four nations of the UK and not just England, Scotland and Northern Ireland. And Margaret Hodge Minister of State at the Dept. of Culture, Media and Sport, has come out in support of the suggestion.

‘If MPs and members of the Government want to bring about equality and fairness in the Union,’ the Campaign for an English Parliament has retorted, ‘then it’s about time it concerned itself with getting rid of far worse inequalities and injustices between the four nations than just what’s on a flag’

‘This government’s Devolution legislation gave self-rule to Scotland, to Wales and to Northern Ireland. Absolutely none whatsoever to England. England is the only nation in the Union without any home rule at all, the only one without its own parliament or assembly. In fact it is the only nation in the EU without its own parliament or assembly.

‘And that is not the only injustice being done to England. Under the now infamous Barnett formula each person in Scotland, Wales and NI has £1500 more spent on them every year than what is spent on any man or woman in England –be it in education or the health service or social services. In addition people of England have to pay for prescriptions, they don’t in Wales and shortly won’t in Scotland either. Students in Scotland get free university, but in England they have tuition fees and top up fees, causing them to leave university with debts up to £20,000.

‘Union MPs should get their priorities right,’ is the demand of the Campaign. ‘What’s on the Union Jack is a very secondary issue. Welsh MPs and UK ministers should regard Justice for England, a Parliament for England, as their first necessity if they want to make the Union a fair and equal partnership of nations’.

Nick Clegg: Abolish England Into Regions, Don't Give The People Any Say In The Matter...

Heavens, can't politicians waffle? Here's Nick Clegg during a BBC question and answer session:

Q: Do you support the establishment of an English Parliament, or at least sessions of the English Parliament to sit at Westminster without MPs from the other British nations. If not - please explain what you mean by federalism. Doug , Edinburgh

A: There is a real anomaly in the way Scottish MPs vote on English matters - but it is only one of countless anomalies in our electoral system, and they all need to be addressed together as part of a new constitutional settlement. Focusing on the West Lothian issue alone just plays into the hands of people who want to break up the United Kingdom.

The real English Question is in a sense the same as the Scottish Question or the Welsh Question - it’s about breaking down an overbearing, over-controlling central state and returning power to local communities and to individuals. I don’t think that English people primarily see this as a question of exact symmetry - the question is one of democratic control. The answer isn’t to try and divide MPs into sheep and goats and risk creating problems whereby one party is in government, but doesn’t have a majority for English affairs. We need to move beyond this sterile debate and look to devolve power within England, and continue the push for a whole new constitutional settlement. Remember - every decision not taken in Whitehall is a decision where the West Lothian Question doesn’t apply.

Mr Clegg basically wants England broken up into regions and abolished. He is not interested in noting the results of recent polls, including one on the BBC itself, which indicate that around 61 to 67 per cent of the English want a national parliament. He is happy to put words into the mouths of the English electorate and ride roughshod over them.

That's a slightly rough but absolutely accurate translation of Mr Clegg's reams of waffle.

Victoria Derbyshire

Paid for by your licence fee, another BBC PC ignoramus prepares to broadcast to the nations and regions. Don't let it vex you - you HAVE to pay her salary.

I've no time for radio presenter Victoria Derbyshire - I remember a St George's Day debate she was involved in a few years ago, where she harassed a black English caller - trying to get him to state that he was not English, but British, everybody was British, including her. The man refused to back down, fortunately, but it rather put me off Victoria.

Now, as concerns grow about the impact of recent mass immigration on schools, Ms Derbyshire is showing her concern and in-depth grasp of the facts relating to the situation on 5 Live...

Here's a snippet relayed by the Waendal Journal:

Caller: "In one school children are speaking 34 different languages!"

La Derbyshire: "Is that a problem?"

Good grief, what planet do some of these people live on? It's all so oblivious, smug and removed from reality.

Reminds me of Trevor Phillips' recent statement about David Cameron's speech on immigration:

"He is asking the 21st Century question about immigration. But unfortunately, he is giving the 20th Century answer in proposing that all of these issues can be solved by capping numbers.

"Rather, we need to meet head on the challenges of rapid and diverse population growth.

"We need to find ways to capitalise on the injection of energy that new migrants bring and bolster our infrastructure and public services to cope with the new demands."

Words like "small island" and "jobs" and "financing" come to mind. Also, employers paying slave wages to immigrants. This is not a desirable state of affairs. This is not how things should be.

And just what are the practicalities and the impact on our environment of Mr Phillips' desire to play Lord Bountiful? Just how does he know that everything in the garden is/will be lovely when he hardly ever experiences real life as lived by the vast majority of us?

A friend of mine who lives in a council flat, had his kitchen renovated last month. One of the workmen, a recent Polish immigrant, spoke to my friend about the wondrous publicity in his homeland about coming to work in England (his term).

"The money seemed very good, but nobody told me how expensive it is here - I can barely afford to live and I can't send any money home."

Instead of slating "idle English" people who won't take poorly paid jobs, this Government should be ensuring that employers pay living wages - and stop importing slave labour.

Then there are those long-term inhabitants who feel the effects of rapid mass immigration. One woman I spoke to recently told me she feels "displaced" at times. New Labour and the PC crowd would pronounce her "racist" or a "Little Englander", but the fact is it is these same New Labour/PC folks who have backed national bodies for Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, charged with "invigorating" those countries traditional cultures, and also created dreadful inequalities like health apartheid and the West Lothian Question.

Double standards and rank hypocrisy.

Immigration? Yes. A thousand time yes. I'd hate to live in a stagnant pond. The current situation? No - it's absolute madness, we're too small, not wealthy enough and a lot of it is happening against the will of the electorate. What is New Labour trying to do? The slave labour angle is obvious, but are they also trying to create such a state of flux here that their chances of retaining power are enhanced? If you don't like the electorate (and let's not pretend that New Labour has any affection for England), change it? With record numbers leaving the country, I can't help wondering.

Big hat tip to Tony Sharp over at the Waendal Journal.

Scots Who Still Won't See The Injustice Of Devolution And English MPs Who Won't Do Their Jobs...

In the Scotsman today...

This is funny:

“The Union has to be seen as looser, more flexible, more diverse and modern and in turn allow the issues at the heart of devolved government - sovereignty, identity, democracy and nationality - to be better understood and made more relevant to Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland and England.”

Despite the first three nations already being showered with devolution goodies, despite the fact that health apartheid is rampant, England is still last on the list.

And this is sickening:

“It [the Union} has within it different nations and regions with views and attitudes towards the Union that vary widely.”

The Union is not composed of regions.

It’s time England was independent. That certain Scots still think they can seek to impose a different set of rules on England to those enjoyed by themselves, and all this posturing and preening - “Scot of The Year” - I mean YUCK!! - shows that insight and fair mindedness is far too lacking for the Union to continue.

When you put these people together with the selfish and greedy English MPs, refusing to act in the interests of their constituents, the message is clear:

End the “Union”.

Then Scots meddlers can mind THEIR OWN business and English MPs will be forced to get on with WHAT THEY ARE SUPPOSED TO BE DOING - representing their constituents’ interests in England.

You never know, the "Scot of the Year" might actually be somebody who lacks the bigoted "auld enemy" mentality and actually sets in motion an end to the devolutionary mess... but don't bank on it.

Big hat tip to the CEP News Blog.

Some Scots MPs Would Like To See England Abolished...

Despite the North East, the only area of England allowed a referendum, voting 78% NO to regionalisation, Ian Davidson, a Scots constituency MP totally unaccountable to the electorate in England, believes that England should be abolished as a unified nation.

"I think the proposals that we had before for regional assemblies seemed to me to be a way forward.

The ‘English votes for English issues’ proposal is a recipe for some degree of chaos. We should be looking for some way of devolving power to the English regions. The first time we had a referendum for the Scottish Parliament, we didn’t get it - so just because the referendum in the north-east [of England] went against the plan, it doesn’t mean it should be rejected completely."
Ian Davidson, Labour MP for Glasgow, reported in the Scotsman.

You can let Mr Davidson know your opinion over at the Scotsman. His phone number is 0207 219 2610.

Regional devolution to England does not solve the West Lothian Question. The internal government of England, whether it should be delivered by our ancient counties, regional bodies or something else, should be decided by MPs representing the people of England in its own national parliament, not by non-representative MPs in the current UK parliament. I boggle at the attitude of some these Scots MPs - it's incredibly arrogant. England's own national parliament is the first priority for restoring democratic rule to the so-called "UK".

Hat tip to the CEP News Blog and the England Project.

Campaign for an English Parliament Press Release: English Parliament Is Only Answer To West Lothian Question

CEP: English parliament is only answer to West Lothian question

On Wednesday November 14th the the House of Commons Justice Committee of MPs taking evidence from invited experts on constitutional matters was informed by Professor Robert Hazell, the Director of the Constitution Committee, that ‘the closest to a complete answer to the West Lothian Question was a separate English Parliament’.’ It was a statement with immense political significance. moment. The Constitutional Unit, located within University College London, had been set up with Professor Hazell as its Director in 2000 with full government backing to address the complex constitutional issues arising out of the 1998 Devolution legislation which had set up the Scottish Parliament and he Welsh Assembly but which had granted no devolution to the English nation whatsoever.

The so-called West Lothian Question has become the most difficult issue of all caused by that legislation. The Scottish Parliament and the Welsh Assembly have created a totally unfair and undemocratic situation for the English. Scottish MPs in the Union Parliament in Westminster are still entitled to vote on such very important matters as health, education and transport for England, even to be cabinet ministers of health, education and transport for England, while no English MPs can do the same on the same issues for Scotland. It has enabled Scotland to vote for free prescriptions for all Scottish people, free personal care for the elderly, no university fees for Scottish students and free bus travel throughout Scotland for all its pensioners. The Scots each get £1500 more spent on their health and education than people in England. Nothing has created more disunity in the United Kingdom and friction between England and Scotland than the West Lothian Question since the Act of Union of 1707, three hundred years ago.

When the Constitution Unit was set up in the year 2000 its Director Professor Hazell, in his ‘State of the Union’ lecture at its inauguration stated that an English Parliament was not the way to resolve the West Lothian Question. He declared that an English Parliament would mean the end of the United Kingdom. Now, after seven years of investigation, his influential Unit has informed the House of Commons that an English Parliament physically separate from the United Kingdom Parliament is the best way to resolve the very question that is creating tension and break-up within the Union. It is a political conversion of Road-to-Damascus proportions, and all the more significant and reliable for that reason.

Come To Wales - Come To Chester...

The Scottish/Welsh imperialist project is getting ridiculous. First we read that the Scots have colonised England, then we discover that the Welsh have taken Chester. The postmark above is absolutely bloody daft and should not exist, but it has greatly upset one CEP member, who sent it to Drew and Fiona with the command "Send in the troops!"

Ironically, the postmark was on an envelope containing the latest CEP "Think of England" newsletter...

Professor John Curtice - "We survey the English about public spending in Scotland, don't tell them the facts, and THEN they think it's OK."

Professor Curtice

I'm paraphrasing in the post title above, but this is what Professor John Curtice of Strathclyde University actually told the House of Commons Justice Committee:

“…The other grumble in England, allegedly, which is about public spending - it’s not as obviously a grumble - or at least it’s not obviously as salient a grumble as perhaps you might imagine.

“What we’ve done here with this question is to simply ask people: Do you think Scotland gets more or less than its fair share of public spending? and we’ve asked it on both sides of the border.

“WE DON’T TELL PEOPLE - as most commercial polling evidence is done - that actually…what the difference in level of spending is, because that leads people, that makes it obvious to them what the difference is, OK?"

You are clearly saying that you don't inform people of the facts. No that IS NOT "OK"! How could you think it?

Here, the Constitution Unit describes Professor Curtis as a "polling expert". Not as I understand polls. They don't usually depend on not furnishing people with relevant information. And furnishing people with relevant information is not "leading them".

I'm indebted to Al Wilson on the CEP comment thread here for highlighting Professor Curtice's warped and hugely unfair sense of logic.

Robert Hazell

Robert Hazell, Director of the Constitution Unit - habitual liar who has done great harm to the prospects of democratic rule for the people of England over a long period of time.

I'm picking Mr Hazell out for particular comment because he wandered into my sights this morning, via this BBC article, spouting the great lie, not for the first time, and I wished to let him know that we are looking. We are hearing. The electorate in England has awoken from its coma and the kind of manipulative nonsense he and his like have been spouting for years is now being noted and seen for what it is by large numbers of people beyond his priviliged clique.

From this morning's BBC online article:

The “closest to a complete answer” would be a separate English Parliament but no “heavyweight” politicians had come out in support of such a move and there was “no significant public demand for that,” he told MPs on Tuesday.”

“No significant public demand”? When last I looked there were polls showing sixty one to sixty seven per cent in favour of an English parliament! The BBC's own poll in January this year showed sixty one per cent (see it here).

What WOULD be “significant” in your view, Mr Hazell?

Anti-English Channel Four Lies Again...

Channel Four is at it again, back on its old familiar anti-English track, blurring and muddying the facts of devolution. By delving into spending between the English regions, by trying to state that Scotland owns all the North Sea Oil and should benefit from it, by generally playing down the West Lothian Question.

The "English regions" are part of England and do not benefit from the Barnett Formula. The English have never voted for regionalisation. These government-imposed regions should not come into the equation. England is a unified nation. Its county (and note I say COUNTY) spending allocations should be sorted via a nationally representative parliament. Not the current UK set-up, with non- representative MPs (like Gordon Brown) holding sway.

All UK resources should go into the UK pot, but if we're on the subject of North Sea oil and gas, the majority of the gas is England's, and about ten per cent of the oil - probably more if tales of the UK Government tweaking the maritime border in the 1960s are true.

Channel Four doesn't dwell on health apartheid, makes light of the West Lothian Question, which should serve to underline the fact that its loyalties do not lie with the people of England. As if we needed reminding - this is the whole back catalogue, as recorded on this blog.

What's most disturbing is the bare faced twisting of facts and smugly anti-English stance of this TV channel. Time and time again.

Still, as this was the channel which set out to be different and succeeded - bringing us the likes of The Mini Pops and Big Brother, perhaps I shouldn't be surprised.

Feedback is welcome at Channel Four - you can e-mail - Faisal.islam@itn.co.uk

England 2007

An England 2007 tweaking of a scene from the charming 1979 film, "Alien". Apologies to the squeamish. It was the best photograph of Gordon Brown I could find at short notice.

I sometimes think the “Britain”/UK Government thing is like that scene from “Alien” - with the UK Government “thing” bursting from the stomach of England and killing it stone dead.

The UK Government is something that doesn’t seek to serve England. Come to that, I’m sure it’s now regretting devolution for Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland.

The UK Government is something very ugly, very self serving, very dangerous. It exists for itself, its own perpetuation is its prime concern. It is in no way a representative organisation, it is a monster, its primitive instincts completely egocentric.

As well as killing off the country of England by imposing regionalisation, the UK Government is quite content to play favourites so that English citizens can die whilst Scottish citizens do not as health apartheid spreads.

CEP Press Release - Senior Government Ministers Oppose Solutions To The English Question

Michael Knowles of the Campaign for an English Parliament and Head of its Media Unit has criticised Gordon Brown, author of the Queen's Speech, for failing even to mention the biggest constitutional issue in the UK today, namely the English Question, and three of Brown's senior government ministers for opposing anything being done about it.

The English Question is the situation the UK is now in in which Scotland, Wales and NI each have formal constitutional and political recognition as distinct nations and self-rule, which they did not have before devolution, while England has neither. As a consequence Scotland, Wales and NI can grant themselves such benefits as free prescriptions and free university education, denied to the people of England. In addition Scottish, Welsh and NI MPs have kept their right to make laws for England's internal affairs like health and education while English MPs have no say at all in the internal affairs of Scotland, NI and Wales.

In the Queen's Speech the Prime Minister Gordon Brown, MP for Kirkaldy and Cowdenbeath in Scotland, excluded all mention from the Queen's Speech of the discrimination England is being subjected to. In the Common's debates that followed, both the Lord Chancellor/Justice Minister Jack Straw and the Secretary of State for Wales Peter Hain have expressed total opposition to England having its own parliament like Scotland has and even to English MPs alone being able to make laws which affect England only. Mr Straw claimed that either solution 'would wrench the UK apart' even though he and his party were the MPs who gave Scotland its own parliament and Wales its own assembly.

Mr Straw and Mr Hain, both Labour party ministers, oppose devolution for England because they fear that it would be the Conservatives who would hold a majority in an English Parliament. They also oppose English MPs alone having the right to make laws for England's internal affairs because they calculate that without Scottish and Welsh MPs Labour would not be able to rule in England. In other words they regard the issue of England purely from the perspective of party advantage.

Mr Alistair Darling, Chancellor of the Exchequer and MP for Edinburgh South West, has called for an end to any discussion of the English Question. As a Scottish MP he looks at the English Question from the perspective of what is of advantage to Scotland. His worry is that devolution for England, particularly in the form of an English Parliament with the same powers and responsibilities as the Scottish Parliament, will reduce Scottish influence over English matters and the number of Scottish MPs in the Union parliament. The Campaign for an English Parliament has written to Mr Brown and his colleagues demanding that England is treated in the Union equally with Scotland.

Trevor Phillips Says Everything's Lovely - Let's Have Loads More Immigrants, Peter "Apartheid" Hain Slags Off Nigel Hastilow... Hypocrisy Rules...

Peter Hain - only backs apartheid when it is levelled against the electorate in England.

I believe that Nigel Hastilow was an absolute twit. Sorry, Nigel, not that I imagine my thoughts will cost you a wink of sleep, but it seems to me that apparently condoning a speech perceived by many to be racist is a fool way of going about opening up the issue of mass immigration. And plays right into New Labour's hands.

"You racist!" screams that party, which has put into place a system of devolution which ensures you can die in England for want of medication available on the NHS in Scotland. "You racist!" screams that party which has put into place a system of devolution that ensures you can scrimp and save for prescription charges free to millionaires in Wales. "You racist!" screams that party which has put into place a system of devolution that ensures non-representative MPs, MPs representing a privileged elite outside of England, including Gordon Brown, Prime Minister, can dictate policy for England.

-

And apparently Peter Hain, digging up cricket pitches in his native South Africa in 1969 in protest at apartheid, but fully backing it when it is levelled against the electorate in England, has also been having his two penny worth.

How sickening. The hypocrite's hypocrite.

But I find comments like this from NuLabour "Equality" quango poodle Trevor Phillips far more worrying...

Speaking of David Cameron's speech on immigration, Mr Phillips said:

"He is asking the 21st Century question about immigration. But unfortunately, he is giving the 20th Century answer in proposing that all of these issues can be solved by capping numbers.

"Rather, we need to meet head on the challenges of rapid and diverse population growth.

"We need to find ways to capitalise on the injection of energy that new migrants bring and bolster our infrastructure and public services to cope with the new demands."

Words like "small island" and "jobs" and "financing" come to mind. Also, employers paying slave wages to immigrants. This is not a desirable state of affairs. This is not how things should be.

And just what are the practicalities and the impact on our environment of Mr Phillips' desire to play Lord Bountiful? Just how does he know that everything in the garden is/will be lovely when he hardly ever experiences real life as lived by the vast majority of us?

Something else that springs to mind, as with Mr Hain and the NuLabour Party in general, is Mr "Human Rights" Phillips apparent complete approval of the health and democratic apartheid levelled against England, post-devolution for Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.

Like Mr Hain, Trevor Phillips is a complete and utter hypocrite. I wonder how these New Labour minions sleep nights.

Evil, deceitful, self-serving bunch.

Rant over.

Scotland - Give It ALL The North Sea Oil, Including England's Share, And It Almost Breaks Even...

Interesting article in the Guardian...

Tax revenues from Scotland almost match the country's £49.2bn a year public spending - although only if all North Sea oil and gas revenues are attributed to Edinburgh, a controversial allocation.

I've been waiting for the North Sea Oil issue to come to the fore.

A couple of problems I have with it...

1) Scotland does not own ALL the North Sea oil as things currently stand. Some of it is in English waters. So why should calculations be done based on it claiming England's oil?

2) Controversy persists about a claimed "tweaking" of the maritime border between England and Scotland in the 1960s, the border being altered in Scotland's favour. The English were not consulted. Concerns about this issue must be addressed.

3) UK resources should be shared UK-wide. Subsidies should be paid to needy localities, NOT whole nations and there is no justification for the current system of health and higher education apartheid.

4) If the UK Government gives Scotland English oil revenue, is that fair? And what happens when the oil runs out? Do we have Scots claiming that the dastardly English deceived them, fobbed them off with the revenue, then left them sitting on the cold hard ground?

In my view, the best answer is to end the UK. Pure and simple.

Unfortunately, the Scottish Raj, sheep-like English MPs and undemocratic die-hard Unionists are determined that this should NEVER happen, no matter what the people want.