Regional Conspiracy Theories

The Commons has approved plans to create new regional select committees, although the chairmen will not be paid.
After a bitterly fought debate in the House on Wednesday MPs backed the plan to create eight new grand committees for the English regions by 254 votes to 220.
The bodies will seek to scrutinise the work of the government's regional ministers, as well as regional development agencies and strategic health authorities.
But opponents have criticised the fact that they will have government majorities even in areas where the Labour Party does not have the most MPs and that in some cases members will not be from the relevant region.

It’s not the only criticism:

‘Gordon Brown, MP for Kirkaldy and Cowdenbeath and Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, is using his office to break up England into regions and destroy its historic unity and national identity’.

So said Michael Knowles, head of the Campaign for an English Parliament media unit and national council member. O’Neill’s criticism is that it is just another wasteful and unnecessary piece of Labour constitutional vandalism.

But the CEP are wrong when they say that the measure was carried on the back of “non-English” votes: the vote for “committees for the English regions” was pushed through Parliament, by 254 votes to 220: 40 Scottish, Welsh MPs voted in favour; 21 NI, Scottish and Welsh MPs voted against. My mathmatics is dodgy, but even so I think, (and not for the first tim)e it is the English MPs (including those that didn’t even turn up) which have denied their own nationalists what they were demanding.

Anyway, just as an interesting side-note, 5 DUPes; Peter and Mrs Robinson, Dodd, Campbell and Wilson voted with the Conservatives against the measure. Interesting because given their less than stellar attendance record at Westminster, this seemed an (from the point of the view of their parochial brand of Unionism) obscure issue to get involved in. Yes, it would damage the UK’s cohesion indirectly, but several other more relevant measures have not warranted such a turnout from the self-styled Saviours of the Union.

And if you look at a few more votes recently (eg “Exclusion or expulsion from trade union for membership of a political party”) a hardcore of 5/6 Dupes have been in attendance and in every case voting against the government and with the Tories. Don’t get me wrong, I’m very pleased to see Unionist MPs taking the time to pop up at the Mother Parliament, but given, let’s say, Iris’ attendance record over the last 12 months (32%) is it a too much of a coincidence that this upsurge in interest (and voting with that nice Mr Cameron) is occurring at this particular time? I might further be stretching a conspiracy theory to breaking point, but their Press-Office Attackhounds have also been apparently muzzled and Pootsie has been unusually quiet recently on the subject of the ongoing UUP/Tory talks...
A new strategy from the DUP?
Or have I got too much time on my hands and too vivid an imagination?!!