This week there have been vitally important meetings, meetings which directly affect England and the English taxpayer but from which any English representative and English voice have been excluded. They are the regular ministerial meetings of the Joint Ministerial Committee. The Committee is made up of the UK Prime Minister, the Scottish First Minister, the Welsh First Minister, the Northern Ireland First Minister, and their deputies, and the Secretaries of State for Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. There is no one representing England. ‘It is totally weird’ said Scilla Cullen, chairman of the Campaign for an English Parliament, ‘how these people still think England is the UK and the UK is England. England is just one of the four parts of the UK and both the identity of England and that of the UK itself should be respected.’
The range of inter-governmental respnsibilites the Committee considers is quite vast. They cover health, the economy, poverty and European issues of which fishing is but one, as well as financial matters and the operation of the Barnett Formula. All involve finance, and it is the English who contribute 84% of the UK tax income. This week JMC meetings have considered the dispute between Scotland and the UK over the £400 million council tax benefit Scotland receives and the £120 million the Scottish Government claims it is owed through the way the Barnett Formula works. Under the Barnett Formula Scotland is entitled to 10% of any money spent in England, in this case on England’s overcrowded prisons, which the Scottish government can then spend on any thing it thinks fit. Lord Joel Barnett himself has called for the formula to be revoked as completly out of date and unfair to England.
‘The Joint Ministerial Committee is only one out of many examples of the grotesquely unfair way in which England has been left out of and penalised by devolution’, says Scilla Cullen ‘It has no voice of its own, absolutely none. Unlike the Scots, the Northern Irish and the Welsh it has no institution with MPs specifically elected to represent its interests. The discrimination practised by the UK state against England and its people is intolerable. It is one of the issues that will be discussed at the National Conference on the future of England on Saturday April 26th from 10:30 to 4:30 at Conway Hall, Red Lion Square, Holborn, London WC1, which is free and open to everyone to attend.’
Regions aren't what matter. Who the hell cares about 'England'? What matters is the PEOPLE in England. And no doubt, as usual, the English people representing the people of England were all white boys.
ReplyDeleteNo women, no Black Men, no Asian Men.
That's the CRIME. That's the RACISM.
Tell me I'm wrong. Tell me who numbers on race and sex of the English reps. You know I'm right.
Still, peace dude.
Firstly, there are no "English reps" because England has no Constitutional existence. Secondly, it's not my job to defend the UK Government's record on sexism and ethnic minority representation.
ReplyDeleteBasically, I don't CARE what gender or ethnicity our "reps" are, as long as they represent the electorate in England. That is made plain throughout this blog.
The UK Government has reconstituted Scotland and Wales as largely self-governing countries and left out England, which has resulted in various inequalities, including health apartheid. This concerns me greatly.
You don't bother to read what's written here and then come wading in with a load of outdated nonsense (as soon as somebody mentions England you say "RACIST!") and cod 1960s terminology. "Peace dude"?!
It's all SO EASY, isn't it?
Well, plug back into your ipod and have a "groovy" day, dear.
If nobody there represents the interests of those in England, England is by definition unaffected.
ReplyDeleteIt may be that the interests of England and England's reps are one and the same as those of the Welsh or Scottish, but that of course makes the people of England represented.
If it is outdated to care about the interests of Black people or women going unrepresented because men speak for them, it must introduce an already outdated and unwanted division to complain about the English being unrepresentable by Scotsmen or Ulstermen. And it's clearly racist.
Individuals matter -- not places or races or phoney ex-nations.
England doesn't even exist, as you point out. I do. And I have as much right to direct the affairs of my government as you do. MORESO, if they are to believed. Live with it.
K
Ah, I see. So, in your view, it is OK for Northern Irish, Scots and Welsh MPs to represent the English, but not for English MPs to represent the Northern Irish, Welsh and Scots?
ReplyDeleteThat is the current state of play as regards devolution.
You seem to have a problem differentiating between race/ethnicity and nationality.
The electorate in England is entitled to exactly the same democratic representation as the electorates in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.
England is IGNORED not unaffected by the devolution process.
The electorate in the largest, most cosmopolitan UK nation are being treated as second class citizens.
I do not seek to defend the actions of the UK Government regarding ethnicity/gender issues - but I know that it is not a government of "white men".
Ethnicity/gender of my elected representatives matters not to me, but you seem to find it an issue.
You favour wholesale discrimination against the people of England on the grounds that anything else would be "racist".
Interesting. And I must "live with it" because YOU believe it is just.
I don't believe that "k" is really interested in racial equality or harmony. Or democratic rule. Take my advice, don't encourage him!
ReplyDeleteQuite right too - k thinks that England should not have democracy basically because he hates England and all that stuff he spouts about "blacks" and "women" is just a cover. EVERYBODY is being shafted in England by the current set-up, regardless of race, gender, colour or creed.
ReplyDeletek's pathetic attitude is: "Let's confuse the issue - you mention England and I'll call you a racist" - that's how it works.
IMHO "k" is basically a moron. I don't believe he's at all intelligent, or even mature.
He seeks soap boxes to further his own devious ends, carrying on like a Celtic supremicist.