The Unionist case for an English Parliament

A bit busy today, but let me recommend the article by Andrew Morrison over on Conservative Home who moves towards making a Scottish Unionist argument for an English Parliament.

I think this is an important point, and not addressing it potentially one of the greatest mistakes we may make if we win power at the next general election.

My comment to the article is repeated below:

Andrew - I think your article has a number of key insights and provides a warning to an incoming Conservative government.

The Unionist argument for an English Parliament is not heard often enough. It provides equality of respect between the home nations and a sense of natural justice.

It also removes one of the key drivers for the breakup of the UK which is the assumption that the now devolved administrations are different from the normal state.

The trap David Cameron is currently walking into is that of again sacrificing English interests to appease Scotland. It will fail on two levels - first the injustice to the English and second the insult to the Scots who sense they are being bought off by someone who is willing to sell his own nation short.

There is a great opportunity for the Conservatives to engage in UK wide constitutional reform, and establishing federal home nation parliaments should be part of that reform. And that means an English Parliament.

It will certainly be better than waiting for the next socialist administration to try its hand, as they will be far more vindictive due to their natural conceit about knowing what's good for people.

Is it time England got a lawyer ?

Hidden away amongst Gordon Brown's almost quixotic speech to the CBI in Glasgow are the seeds of the final break up of Britain. I say Britain as I think in the same way that many Commonwealth nations have the Queen as head of state, the Welsh, Scots and maybe Northern Irish would continue - the UK may continue as a lose or confederated arrangement.

Why say this ? Because its only inertia that holds Britain together now. Take for example the debate on Olympic teams for each home nation. The argument against a Scottish team made by Chris Hoy is not one of loyalty to Britain or his British team mates, but one of money. Equally the arguments against the moves to Scottish and Welsh independence are usually framed in terms of problems to be over come (like how to keep the tap of English money flowing / take all the Oil money ), almost never in compelling terms about Britain.

Now, under the Labour party's and lets not forget Liberal Democrats, devolution settlement all the main politicians for all the main party's in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland will never need to travel or live in the rest of the UK. The Scots Labour party now seems to want direct control over its own Westminster MPs, the future careers of all the student/careerist politicians and over promoted shop stewards will follow the gravy to Cardiff and Edinburgh.

Unless someone changes the terms of this trade in influence and incentives then the break up of the Union is inevitable. ( I'm afraid to say that David Cameron's policies on this area are laughable - indeed Alex Salmond is waiting with the anti-English Tory elephant trap for Cameron to charge on in.)

The economy is the most immediate problem facing us, but the divorce of the Union is the most urgent.

Since none of our national political parties or politicians seem to have a clue on how to change the direction of events away from the regrettable break up of the Union its time to start thinking about how the split will happen.

Right now we have Scots and Welsh politicians eagerly negotiating for the maximum advantage for the fiefdoms rapped in the nationalist flags of their home nations. Sitting on the other side of the table are "British" politicians desperate to retain the Union, their only cards to play are selling English interests out.

In this road crash of a constitutional divorce the only country without a lawyer or representation is England. It isn't hard to imagine that the English will get the worse deal from this Dutch auction of our interests.

PS I wish that the Unionist politicians would create a positive vision of a fair and just Union, but they all see to just want to issue concessions to the Scots and Welsh whilst keeping the English in the dark.

Those who must die for New Labour

In short English people with colon cancer who have the nerve to pay for any treatment they need themselves - and that would have been paid for by the UK state (which they paid taxes into) in Scotland.

Cranmer has the details .....

Catch Frank Field on the English Question

In today's DT.

I have some comments (made on the site) - but Lunch is served !

An English Parliament could save the Union not destroy it

Just read an article on what is now at last being called "The English Question" by Philip Johnston in today's Telegraph where he tries to get away with dismissing the idea of an English Parliement as leading to the break up of the Union. Here's the comment I left ...

Mr Johnston - you dismiss and English Parliament too quickly, and with unproven points.

Creating an English Parliament would create symmetry. This would also provide a logical limit to the demand for powers from all the assemblies and parliaments. An English parliement would be beholden to a UK parliament in just the same way as say the Scottish is. If it doesn't work then it will fail for Scotland just as surely as for England. Devolution has placed the knife at the heart of the Union, not the English demand for justice.

Let me offer another explanation. The problem is not an English Parliament (and government) demanding more powers, but exercising those powers it would receive if it were similarly constituted to the Scottish settlement.

Most of what now passes for government activity would be carried out by English Executive. ( Education, health, housing, transport etc etc). What the British Political establishment fears (for which read Scots like Rifkind and Brown) is the loss of its right to rule England in a colonial fashion.

An English parliament would save the Union and provide equality of respect between the home nations (we never hear that phrase these days). It would just be very bad for Celtic politicians who wish to play at ruling England.

The hypocrisy of Gordon Brown and his anti-English (and Irish) plans

Gordon Brown is trying to save his own skin by rapping himself in the Union flag - see today's Telegraph here. Frankly the hypocrisy of the man who has done more than almost any other to destroy the Union to now try to claim to be its champion is almost beyond belief.

Not that I don't have anything else to do - but I had to fisk his article. Go on a read the comments its received and utter fury from other English people.

Man in a Shed is in favour of the Union - but will accept with good grace the wish of any of the other nations to leave and would wish them well. He is married to a Scot and has lived there for years - its a great place with wonderful people (except some of their self serving politicians ).

But Labour trying to politicise the idea of the Union will doom it to destruction, a process they started with their anti-English devolution settlement. Personally I believe it was fuelled by a desire to have fiefdoms for the Labour party where no Conservative government could ever interfere and still be able to win more than their share of UK elections.

Gordon Brown is the greatest Enemy of the United Kingdom - as his signing of the Scottish Claim of Right confirms.

Note also an indication that Labour are going to again try to balkanise England for their own political advantage.

Anyway - on with the Fisk of his article !

More than a year ago I argued that a debate about the future of the United Kingdom was long overdue as people have finally rumbled the anti-English devolution settlement and my being an unelected Scot head of a defacto government of England were we didn't even win the most votes in a general election with a poor turnout.

I suggested that, unless we start to focus more on what unites us than we do on what divides us like you being PM perhaps ?, there is a real risk that one day people will wake up and find that the benefits of the Union like the English paying for everyone else- which they had taken for granted for so long - had disappeared.


I was accused of crying wolf - no you were accused of being a hypocrite - just as you accused John Major of crying Wolf when he said we had 24 hrs to save the Union before you came into power and broke it. But when secessionist forces are loudly at work it is not the time for silence and passivity - but you haven't been - your the one who made the problem in the first place !!!!. We must be resolute in defending the Union and argue against those who put it at risk the only way you could do this is by resigning.


In these islands we have, over centuries, created the world's most successful multinational state because we celebrate and respect the multiple identities that enrich us all. I am Scottish and proud of it, but I am no less proud to be British - just as there are millions who are proud to be Welsh and British and English and British too - any seen the Irish ?.

In recognition of this, 10 years ago we embarked on devolution fantastic bear face lie direct to our face - ensuring that the smaller nations that are part of the UK have more control over their own affairs can you see some sort of why England could never be allowed to be Tory have its own Parliament argument building up here ?. Devolution simply acknowledges the dual identities: Welsh and British, Scottish and British too What about the English !!! Are you so bigoted that you can't get the word out ?.

Yet if, as I believe, the Union is a multiplier for good that too often and for too long has been taken for granted, then it is time now to explain how the Union can benefit all of us, and not at the expense of each other - its mostly at the expense of the English - you've made it into an abusive relationship.

There is no Scotland-only, Wales-only, England-only solution to transnational challenges that range from terrorism to foot and mouth disease, and from avian flu to security and climate change. So for these islands an environmental Union, a security Union and a Union for defence is to the benefit of all This is really an argument as much for the EU as the UK - I'm sure Scots Nats would happily subscribe and suggest they can get all this from the EU - you must think you are talking to ignorant children.

But what matters even more are the common values we share across the United
Kingdom: values we have developed together over the years (300 of them - England on the other hand is over 1000 years old ) that are rooted in liberty, in fairness and tolerance, in enterprise, in civic initiative and internationalism Again mainly English virtues.

These values live in the popularity of our common institutions from the NHS there are 4 NHS's - the least money per head being spent on the English one, the BBC the BBC has national units for everyone except England - just like its socialist pay masters, to the Queen - and even more recently in UK-wide support for the Olympics where every other part of the UK complains about London, Children in Need, Comic Relief, Make Poverty History that politics - and stupidity and
action on climate change again politics and stupidity.

We know also that we are stronger together because again and again each part of our country has benefited from innovations with origins in only one: the NHS founded by a Welshman; universal education with many of its earliest roots in Scotland; and universal suffrage championed by radicals in England. ( And how was the UK important here - I'm just asking as you make these points ? )

In all these, and in many other instances, we did not lose because we worked together, but gained something greater than we could have achieved separately.

The fact is, the Union is more like a covenant founded on shared values that have created bonds
of belonging that make us all feel part of a wider Britain. Out of these bonds of belonging we have created not just the rights and responsibilities of a political citizenship but also of a social and
economic citizenship too. But for the English who must be oppressed and bleed dry by punitive taxation, unfair distribution of resource and vindictive political spending against areas that don't vote Celtic Labour.

So today, wherever and whoever you are in any part of the United Kingdom, you enjoy not only
the right to liberty within the law but also the right to education, to healthcare, to help when unemployed and to a state pension and soon, for everyone, an occupational pension too. It is through such social insurance that all parts of the UK share risks and resources to provide
security for each of us. ( Warning to the Scots - vote SNP and the English won't be there to bail out you socialist utopia and public sector run economy when the oil runs out )


It is precisely because these shared values are so important and continue to flourish that it
is possible to reconcile English, Scottish and Welsh pride with the progress of the Union - because the Union succeeds in combining recognition of separate national identities with the ideals and common values that reflect our wider Brutishness like the anti-English constitutional arrangement eh ?.

Today Jack Straw the cabinet's token English person, Secretary for Justice, is consulting throughout the country on a statement of values that define British citizenship and on the
case for a full British bill of rights and duties setting out rights and obligations for all citizens. He will of course not ask those who disagree with him - the English have never needed such a statement and certainly don't trust Labour to come up with it.

The theme of the next stage of constitutional reform will be the empowerment of people ie the fudging of the issue- at local, regional WARNING - THIS IS LABOUR's next anti-English plan - destroy England with the British regions !!!! and national levels. So it makes sense also to look at the relationship between the nations and regions you can see what coming right ?and whether it strikes the right balance as we strive to meet and master new global challenges.

The discussion about the future of Britain will succeed best if it is based on our shared values, and rooted in the hopes and aspirations for the future of people in every part of our country. So why are the English not asked - insulted and marginalised - is it because we don't vote for your party Mr Brown in large enough numbers ?

There is a modern case for the Union, and it must be heard there was a case for the Union you broke Mr Brown - but you ignored it: it is not about partnership at the expense of pride, or about pride that can be satisfied only by sacrificing partnership ( you know what this means England and the English sacrifice - everyone one else cleans up ). Instead, it is to ensure that each region and nation of the United Kingdom flourishes within a covenant and in a partnership of equals for the benefit of all except of course England and the English.




PS Anyone know what happened to http://www.toque.co.uk/witan today ?

A Clockwork Clegg: Is there an English Lib Dem party - Nick Clegg says so !

Is there an English Lib Dem party - Nick Clegg says so !

Perhaps he just made a slip of the tongue, but also perhaps the Lib Dems are coming round to the idea of an English political identity - which surely leads to an English Parliament !

There may be hope. Iain Dale has been trying to persuade my party today - hopefully making some progress.

Unstoppable momentum now behind the disaggregation of the UK

So says Iain Macwhirter in today's Guardian.

That shoudl be a real wake up call to the flat earthers on the left who have been trying to deny the results of their unbalanced devolution botched job for the constitution. ( Lib Dems this means you too ! )

They saw devolution as a clever trick to keep the Tories out of power forever in large areas of the UK ( remember they wanted regional assemblies also to box the Conservatives into the South of England only ), but they really lit the blue touch paper to the Union's destruction.

The only solution is equality of respect amonsgt the nations of the United Kingdom - and that means an English Parliament with a federal UK.

It will be a great loss if the Union is finally destroyed by Gordon Brown and New Labour (they're harking on about Britishness fools no one).

Save England and save the Union. Repress England and you will lose it all. The danger is that the British political establishment is too isolated to see what is going on and will act too late.

Labour should replace Gordon Brown if they want to save the UK with a man or woman who can save the country. Or even better call a general election so a more talented party can sort this mess out.

2008 - a wish for England.

Lets make 2008 England's year.

Whilst a current Conservative party member and supporter I can't go along with David Cameron's suggestion of doing down the English as the price of appeasement to maintain the UK that he implied in Edinburgh recently.

The video below from Gary Bushell of the English Democrats makes the points I would make - not least of all that this is one of the few options left to save the Union.

The Economist doesn't understand the English Question

Like much of the old establishment The Economist just can't really get its head around the English Question. There is an article here titled "Handle with care". As has often been the case its suggests that recognising the English nation, in the same way that the Welsh, Scottish and Irish nations are recognised will destroy the Union. See below for a extract:

Polls suggesting that two-thirds of the English support an English-only parliament may be flawed (the questions are often leading), but support is definitely up from the 17% registered in the early years of devolution. The proportion of English people who define themselves as “English, not British” has risen from 30% in 1992 to 40% in 2005. English MPs report that voters nobbled on their doorsteps complain increasingly about England's subsidy of the Celtic fringe and the “Scottish Raj” that dominates Westminster.

Notice that the journalist can't bring themselves to use the same formation for the English Parliament support 67% as they use for the less favourable measures. The whispering "leading question" smear is used - can any of you remember seeing that about any other referendums ? (By the way the Campaign for an English Parliament use professional polling firms for these surveys - ones the government knows and trusts as they need the figures to be credible ).

The Economist has become increasingly close to New Labour over the last 10 years and I suspect its journalists are finding it hard to think outside the New Labour silo they now inhabit. They are continuing the English Nationalism bad - Celtic Nationalism good double think group think. (There are signs that the Daily Mail, The Daily Telegraph have also succumbed to New Labours total politics. They have many journalists who will now never have worked under any government than a Labour one - and their lack of imagination shows.)

And of course the article ends with what will probably be the MacLabour way of keeping the English down - claiming equivalent power has been devolved to councils or such. Expect this to be Gordon "sworn to put the interests of Scotland first" Brown's ploy to con the English next.