English Democrats call for a referendum in Monmouthshire

Published on March 15, 2011 by in Press releases

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The BBC reports that the English Democrats Party is calling for a referendum in Monmouthshire on whether it should be part of Wales or part of England.

The status of Monmouthshire has always been ambiguous, as the BBC suggests. Whether it should be in England or Wales, however, is not the immediate priority.

Although referendums on devolution have been held in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, the people of England have never been asked in a referendum whether they wish to have their own Parliament. If a referendum were held now, Monmouth would in effect be invited to opt out of devolution if it wishes.

The CEP urges that the question of an English national assembly should be decided in a referendum first, after which the people of Monmouthshire can be asked to decide whether they wish to be governed as part of Wales or as part of England.

Devolution is a continuing process. Wales has recently had its second referedum and has voted for wider law-making powers. Scotland will soon be voting on greater national autonomy. The glaring democratic deficit lies in England where laws are made, not by English MPs only, but with the votes of MPs from all of the devolved countries.”

  • http://thecornishrepublican.blogspot.com/ cornubian

    Great! So a referendum on Cornwall leaving England can be expected as ED policy?

    Is the CEP just a front for the right-wing loons of the English Democrats?

    • http://www.forengland.org Wyrdtimes

      You need to ask the English Democrats about their policy.

      The CEP has no links with any political party.

      • Englander

        Be careful! If the EDPs want to land grab Monmouthshire, perhaps Wales and Cornwall will want England returned to Wales and Cornwall, and we will be have to go and live in Germany again – if the Germans want the English!

        • Terry

          Stevie, you have got to rid yourself of this racial purity crap!

          You keep banging on about ancient white tribes of anglo saxons and celts. This kind of thinking might be acceptable in your part of Wales, but it’s a ridiculous notion to anyone with more than two brain cells!

          Please get out more and travel a little!

          • Bobby Boyce

            I wonder if he also belongs to the flat earth society?

        • Billyjj79

          So much ‘cleansing’…
          The Welsh are obsessed with the idea this is ‘their’ island. So why not turn some ire to the people of ‘Scot’land, the people after whom it was named having originated in… Ireland.

          As any good Irish republican will tell you Ireland is NOT a part of Britain, so logically the ‘Scots’ are as foreign to Britain as the English.

    • Stephen Gash

      No. The issue is completely different. Monmouthshire was stolen from England and shoved into Wales without the people being asked, nor even a debate in Parliament. I suppose we could stuff Cornwall into Wales, or perhaps Britanny, without giving you a say. Then you could start whining to the Welsh assembly about your referendum. Actually you would probably get a fairer hearing from an English Parliament than you ever will from this UK Government. So, start calling for an English Parliament.

  • http://www.facebook.com/people/Duncan-Higgitt/712093487 Duncan Higgitt

    Well said, Cornubian. Reveals the EDs’ move as nothing but a land grab.

    • http://www.forengland.org Wyrdtimes

      Wasn’t Monmouthshire part of England not so long ago?

      • Bobby Boyce

        It’s about democracy, that’s what a referendum is all about. oops, I forgot, democracy does not apply to the English anymore.

    • Stephen Gash

      The land grab happened in the 1970s. The Ordnance Survey maps clearly placed Monmouthshire in England, until Neil Kinnock and the other land-grabbers stole it.

  • Jaware25@hotmail.com

    Monmouthsire was under teh Oxford Assizes after the Act of Union not the Wales and Marches one based upon Ludlow.

    It is / was ED policy to allow devolution to Cornwall in 2007 by more powers to its County Council.

    If you defend Shakespeare it is only logical to defend Dyland Thomas.

    • IlloganMK

      Cornwall does not have a County Council – nor is giving local government more powers the same as devolution.

      If EDs are so worried about ‘parts of England’ being lost to Wales how do you justify the continued administration of Cornwall by England when even the English courts and legal system have clearly stated that Cornwall is extra-territorial to England?

      • Maria

        Cornwall is not adminstered by England, that’s sheer fallacy, because there is no English Parliament. It is administerd by Westminster – composed of UK MPs, MPs from all over the UK, and known as “the UK Parliament”.

  • James Ware

    wyrdtimes

    Its county council was until acts of Parliament in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries counted as an English County. The county town was Newport until its population increased to a level where it became a county borough in its own right.

  • Stephen Gash

    If England had had a parliament in the 1970s, Monmouthshire would still be in England now. With all due respect, Monmouthshire’s position has never been ambiguous, despite what the anti-English BBC says. It has always been in England, as Ordnance Survey maps showed before the county was stolen from England. The fact that the BBC says it has been “ambiguous” actually proves the point. If Monmouthshire had been in Wales, the BBC would have said so, unequivocally.
    If England had its own parliament, the English would have benefits, such as free prescriptions, that Wales now enjoys.
    The fact is, those people in Monmouthshire who voted against the Welsh Assembly in both referenda, will not be given the opportunity to vote on coming back to England, so will be denied a vote on an an English Parliament, in the referendum that will inevitably happen in England, due to mounting pressure from English people who are now being systematically robbed by the United Kingdom.

    • Maria

      In the 1970s, Stephen? Do you mean at any time from 1 January 1979 to 31 December 1979, or can you be more specific? I’m interested.

      • Stephen Gash

        I take it you chose those dates because Wales had its first referendum on the Welsh Assembly in 1979 and booted it out of the stadium?

        I was actually referring to 1972/3 when Monmouthshire was stolen from England under the smokescreen of Heath’s obliteration of our ancient counties as the first step to EU regions. There was not even a debate about it let alone a referendum. There is no record of who was in the HofC at five minutes to twelve on the night concerned, but it is said to have been about six. There was mention of the transfer, only to fulfil procedure, but as Monmouthshire-man Lord Ken Baker said, the people of Monmouthshire went to bed in England and woke up in Wales, without so much as a by-your-leave.

        • Maria

          That’s great, thank you. I don’t know a great deal about this, so your original comment “if England had had a parliament in the 1970s” left me puzzled.

  • James Ware

    Wasn’t Monmouthshire decided by the decisive vote for unionism parties in 2007. That is the diofference between parliamentary democratic law where election results under an act of union decide teh matter, and one where devolved legislatures under a federal legislature are initiated by acts of teh federal legislature (Westminster) and ratifed by those living within that nation. The government should have called a constitutional convention.

    If student union constituions guff about equal opps are to mean anything, its time for 5/6 of teh population within England to get teh same devolved governance so that it and the devolved territories can vote on and aggree finance for infrastructure such as High Speed Rail or Cardiff city metro and Monmouthshire Rail improvements.

    Have to hand it to Monmouthshire for saying No to more welsh assembly powers, it does raise their issues higher on the agenda for Welsh assembly.

    Linguistic diversity is allowed under the ECHR freedom of expression.

  • http://thecornishrepublican.blogspot.com/ cornubian

    Ah, so I see some of my comments have been censored. What a brilliant example of democracy and free speech you are at the CEP. Fortunately I tweeted and facebooked my pertinent comments that were clearly too close to the bone for some.

    • http://www.forengland.org Wyrdtimes

      Your post was off topic and offensive.

      • http://thecornishrepublican.blogspot.com/ cornubian
        • Bobby Boyce

          I read your rant, clearly you are becoming frustrated with your lack of progress in your attempted land grab of Cornwall. Get a life and be patient, your best chance of achieving your objectives is through a referendum on the issue and that may be achieved through an English parliament. I doubt that it would succeed, but it’s worth a try.

        • Stephen Gash

          Is it in Cornish?

  • englishbob

    Monmouthshire is in England, it’s English land. No need to vote – It’s ours…

    “The CEP has no links with any political party.” This’s true I as believe are I wouldn’t be here…

  • Nubgb

    The British Gov will always support the devolved Countries, they have shown that.
    In this case If they support Wales on this it will really cause problems. It will show that they now must create an English Parlement, the national outrage will peak.
    Perhaps Monmouth should be divided like the Sudan, Personally….. it belongs to England.

  • Mathew15051975

    Monmouth is on Welsh side of Offas dyke. A clear fact. About this time the present area of Wales was formed in the 9th century. Cymru am byth.
    Mathew.

  • Uberkernow

    It will be really sad if people start getting so exercised about this that the UK ends up becoming a new Yugoslavia a few generations down the line. Think that’s preposterous? Then just listen to yourselves.

    • Stephen Gash

      The greatest cause of hostility in these islands is the United Kingdom. Or hadn’t you noticed?

  • CRialobran

    Leave Monmouthshire in Wales, give England it’s own parliament…..without Cornwall, everyone is happy.
    Kernow bys vyken

    • Uberkernow

      miaow!

  • Maria

    Good grief Englander!! You are so funny. Ancient white tribes again – seriously shonky history – beloved of racists in Wales, I believe!