....The Separatist?
Cameron, still reeling from Thursday night’s bye-election’s results, has resorted to Little-England populism today with this call:
"English votes for English issues"
Western Mail hasn’t put the interview online, but IC Wales has highlighted some of Mr Cameron’s more controversial quotations:
1.A TORY Government would block Welsh MPs from voting on devolved issues, David Cameron promised last night.
Mr Cameron has floated the idea of “English votes for English issues” in the past, but speaking to the Western Mail yesterday he went further, promising it will be implemented if he wins the next general election.
As will be seen later in the interview, Mr Cameron seems to struggle with basic constitutional principles; it will only implemented if a majority in parliament, not just Dave Cameron, says so. I’ll wager that a fair few *real* Unionist Tories will join both Labour and the Lib Dems in voting this proposed discriminative measure down.
2.Mr Cameron denied that his proposals would be impractical, despite many Parliamentary Bills having some clauses which apply to different parts of the UK.
“I don’t think it is complicated,” he said. “It’s relatively straightforward to look at a piece of legislation and ask if it only affects English constituencies, or which bits of it only affect English constituencies.
No, it will be fiendously complicated, there are very few pieces of legislation which affect English constituencies in isolation.
3.Elsewhere in his interview, Mr Cameron said, “I’m a believer in the United Kingdom. I think we’re stronger together than we would be separated and I want to see a strong United Kingdom.
So, he wouldn’t be a fan of those “separated” Assemblies in N.Ireland, Scotland and Wales delivered up by devolution to the various nationalist parties?
4.“But we do need to deal with the West Lothian question of English votes for English laws, where MPs don’t have control over health or education or housing in their own constituencies. That needs to be corrected.
It only needs to be corrected because of those “separated” Assemblies mention in 3).
And what’s this nonsense about MPs don’t have “control over health or education or housing in their own constituencies”? They never have had such "control", or at least, never "complete control". Each of the 646 MPs in the House of Commons has only one vote, they don’t have outright control over health, education etc etc, whether or not Scottish, Welsh or N.Irish MPS are also allowed to vote on such matters. Also, I’d be interested to see how many of the latter MPs actually turn up to vote on solely English matters anyway- not many, I’m sure.
5.“The union has become weaker, undermined, and I believe we can strengthen the union by dealing with this outstanding question.
As that famous philosopher Homer Simpson might have said "Duhhh!"
The Union has indeed become weaker, but mainly because of devolution. Without devolution, logically, there would have been not such a pressing "West Lothian" question. The Union will not be strengthened by creating two classes of MPS.
6. “Those people who argued that devolution would solve the problems have been proved wrong.”
How in earth could have devolved parliaments in Edinburgh, Belfast and Cardiff solved this perceived under-representation of English interests? Who were the idiots who argued this?
7.But he insisted he didn’t want to see Wales or Scotland leave the UK. “I don’t want to be Prime Minister of England I want to be Prime Minister of Great Britain.”
Well, you are going a very odd way about it.
For probably the first time ever, I agree with the Tango-Man:
But Mr Hain said, “This dangerous Conservative plan would result in constitutional instability and would give second-class status not just to MPs from Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland but also to citizens outside England.
“The danger is that Westminster would quickly become for England only and encourage separatism.
“Now that we have a rare Conservative policy commitment, Labour must make this a key dividing line at the next election: between those in favour of preserving the UK and those in favour of its dissolution.
Strange times we’re living in to hear that kind of statement from a Labour Minister.
7 comments:
Labour was panicked by nationalists to the north and the west. Their half baked solution devolved power to the nations, not the regions.
This gave cause for a re-emergence of English nationalism and if the English are demanding equal treatment (nothing more and nothing less). This seems eminently reasonable to me.
If the Union is to survive, we need to treat all citizens equally, and that means giving England a Parliament of her own.
Hi O'Neil. I understand your unionist position or at least I understand your position on EVoEM which as you say will probably be unworkable in practice. But am I to understand that you are in favour of reversing devolution and as such are firmly consigned to the bin of history? How would you solve the democratic deficit faced by England which is not sustainable in the medium to long term and maybe not even in the short. The UK parliament does NOT represent England because it is there to represent the interests of the UK as a whole. Your idea that MPs from the other home nations do not affect legislation in England is blatantly incorrect as the votes on Top up Fees and foundation hospitals proved. English MPs might be in the majority but they can't organise themselves into some sort of nationalist bloc vote every time a piece of legislation comes along. For me it is just wrong that MPs whose constituents are unaffected should be able to vote on these issues. England currently has no separate parliament, no first minister, no executive, no representation as the British-Irish council illustrates perfectly. What is your solution? Peter Hain like the rest of New labour hope against hope that if ignored long enough the problem will simply go away. I wouldn't like to place a bet on that. Incidently I would beware of using the catch all tag 'little Englander' for much longer not only because it is essentially racist but because it is fast becoming a badge of pride for the new breed of English nationalist who is not the same animal as the old despite the ongoing attempts to brand them as such. I like your blog title and your vision of the Union of equals but I think you will find if you glance at your passport that 'Northern Ireland' is the only nation separately listed on it. If only the British state WAS the UK of England, Scotland, Wales and NI but unfortunately it isn't.
Terry
The English are presently politically disadvantaged in comparison with the Scots, Welsh and N>irish, I'm in complete agreement with you there on that.
My problem with Cameron's interview is that rather than pointing out the obvious, ie this unfair situation is a direct result of devolving power to Scotland, wales and NI, he instead has proposed this measure which would definitely weaken even further the ties which hold the UK together.
The Conservatives should be in the vanguard of trying to minimize the effects of devolution, not pushing further the nation along the road to eventual separation.
I agree. EVoEM does not bear close scrutiny. The Tories are ignoring the elephant in the room
k2
Sorry, i missed your comment earlier.
But am I to understand that you are in favour of reversing devolution and as such are firmly consigned to the bin of history?
Yes, I’m a UK unionist!
For me it is just wrong that MPs whose constituents are unaffected should be able to vote on these issues.
But Southern English MPs also can vote on issues only relevant to the north of England, London MPs can vote on rural issues (the fox-hunting debate was a good example of this).
England currently has no separate parliament, no first minister, no executive, no representation as the British-Irish council illustrates perfectly.
What is your solution?
I want a true UK parliament, with the same taxation, social security, education, legal and health system applying throughout the whole of UK.
Incidently I would beware of using the catch all tag 'little Englander' for much longer not only because it is essentially racist but because it is fast becoming a badge of pride for the new breed of English nationalist who is not the same animal as the old despite the ongoing attempts to brand them as such.
I’ve used similar ones for the SNP, Plaid Cymru, the DUP, Sinn Fein. It’s a criticism of their silly regionalism. Is there such thing as an English/Scottish/Welsh/Northern Ireland (as opposed to the British) race anyway?
I like your blog title and your vision of the Union of equals but I think you will find if you glance at your passport that 'Northern Ireland' is the only nation separately listed on it.
The only nation on my passport is the United Kingdom. Northern Ireland is the only country listed, but so what?
If only the British state WAS the UK of England, Scotland, Wales and NI but unfortunately it isn't
What is it then?
Sorry, surely having left it to the vote of the Scottish and Welsh people, the decision has now been made and retaking what we have given could result in an unnecessary war. How do you suggest England should inform the Welsh and Scottish that they no longer have a parliament, apart from the one in England?
In a diplomatic world, you've got to live with the decisions you've made in order to prevent an uprising of tension which could lead to war. What would happen if the Torries were voted into power but Gordon Brown said 'Actually, we shouldn't have let you vote, we're still in charge.'???
How do you suggest England should inform the Welsh and Scottish that they no longer have a parliament, apart from the one in England
Where did I suggest that?
In life you don't always the government or even political system you want; in a democracy you accept the will of the majority and the majority of NI, Scotland and Wales wanted devolution.
Fine, but that doesn't mean that it's cast in stone. In a democracy I'm entitled to express my view that for the long-term well-being of all parts of the UK I don't believe devolutuon is the way forward. You don't believe the Tories should stop working against Labour simply because they lose a general election, do you?
Post a Comment