Is England Going To Get A Voice At Last?

[anotheoldgit]

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/politics/10170664/English-MPs-could-get-a-veto-over-laws-that-only-affect-England.html

[mikey4444]

The West Lothian Question has been simmering away since 1977, brought up originally by Tam Dalyell if I am not mistaken. It certainly needs to be sorted out as since the devolution of Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland has made the situation worse. As the party politics of England would appear to at odds to the rest of the UK, I'm not sure how much longer we can allow the situation to go on for.

Scotland has its Big Vote on independence coming up, so its a fair bet that nothing will be done ahead of the vote in September next year. It would seem to me that the vote for independence will not succeed, so the issue will be even more important then.

I don't want to take a party political line on this affair but if England did have some kind of Assembly or Government of its own, then it is likely to be permanent rule by the Tories, which might not be entirely healthy in the long run.

[modeller]

Even if w were on our own I don't believe it it would be a permanent Tory government because an English government would have to appeal to everyone and not just on tribal grounds. For too long extremists have had to fight on outdated mindsets. The unions have been the main support of Labour and their greatest millstone. Every strike that affects the public is levelled against Labour . Every loud mouthed Commie is seen as a Labourite. In exactly the same way that arrogant toffeenosed, public school bankers are seen as Tories.
An English government would be on its own and would rapidly be judged on its achievements and not on blind tribal lines dating from the 18 and 19th centuries.
I can imagine both parties will be breaking their links with their traditional
backers and try to be more inclusive.

[mikey4444]

I wish I could share you enthusiasm modeller. The Tories are on the run in Scotland and Wales, and they don't even campaign in Northern Ireland. If Scotland were to leave the UK, and Wales and Northern Ireland go on as they are, that leaves only England where the Tories could hope to lead a separate assembly.

At we stand at present, out of the possible total of 533 Parliamentary seats in England, the Tories won 298 and Labour only 191 in 2010. So it would seem that the Tories have more than a good chance of being in control of any English Parliament, if the boundaries remained largely the same. Even if the constituency boundaries were altered and the number of seats in total were reduced, Labour still has a steep hill to climb.

The minor parties and extremists will have precious little effect on any vote...its always been a 2 party fight in Britain and the results of 2010 haven't made much of a difference either way.

That is why us that live in the UK but don't live in Scotland, Wales , or Northern Ireland and support Labour had better pray that the Scots don't vote for independence. Its a simple case of arithmetic.