What next for England?
The elections are over at long last and the Conservatives predictably emerged victorious, giving Labour a severe drubbing resulting in the loss of 311 councillors. But what does it mean for England?
Well, it looks increasingly likely that Labour will lose the next election to the Conservatives and if the local election results are repeated in the general election then they will win with a huge majority allowing them a pretty free hand for any legislative programme they wish to pursue.
On face value, with the Conservatives being the most pro-English of the parties that are in with a chance of winning an election, the future should look good for English people bu scratch the surface and things aren’t quite so positive.
The membership of the Conservative Party is mostly eurosceptic and pro-English but the leadership isn’t. David Cameron says he wants to stay in the EU and seems to take every opportunity to slag the English off, especially when he’s up north trying to find an extra vote or two for their futile Scottish election campaigns. The CEP, of course, doesn’t have a policy on the European Union – we have one objective and that is to secure a referendum on an English Parliament – but we do recognise the threat that the EU poses to England in the form of its regionalisation project which has resulted in England being balkanised into 9 artificial regions of their devising.
So what can we expect of a future Conservative government? An English Parliament? Not without a fight. English Votes on English Legislation was an inadequate compromise and even that’s been watered down to a proposal that would prevent foreign MPs from debating an English bill but would allow them to vote on it still. Can we expect free nationwide public transport all day, every day for pensioners? Free prescriptions for all? Free central heating for pensioners? Perfectly reasonable requests when they’re already available in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland but not very, well, Conservative.
The Conservatives will be happy to have unseated both Labour and Plaid Cymru in a few Welsh seats and there’s no denying that getting the left wing Celts to vote for the Conservatives is an achievement but the majority of their support always has been and always will be in England. The handful of Scots and Welsh that vote Conservative are but a drop in the ocean for the Conservatives.
So why do they go out of their way to offend the English, to deny our sovereign right to determine the best form of government for ourselves? They have acknowledged the right of the rest of the UK, albeit grudgingly, to govern themselves so why not the English people that vote for them? I think it perhaps the misconception, deliberate or otherwise, that an English Parliament will ultimately mean the end of the union and the Conservatives are, to give them their full title, the Conservative and Unionist Party.
What the Conservative and Unionist Party and others fail to understand is that the lack of an English Parliament is what will eventually lead to the end of the union. There’s no point beating about the bush – we English are a patient race but that patience will only stretch so far. Is it a reasonable expectation that the English should tolerate a future in which they are the only nation in Europe without self-government, in which they play second fiddle to the Celtic minority and in which their nation is abolished?
The Conservatives need to remember which side of their bread is buttered before they lose the support of the English. There are probably enough people who will vote Conservative just to get rid of Labour but that’s not a sustainable position to be in. The next few years is likely to see the emergence of more parties pushing the English agenda and the Conservatives are in danger of getting left behind thanks to their outdated ideas on devolution. The fact that the English Democrats candidate, Matt O’Conner, got over 10,000 votes in England’s capital despite having pulled out a week ago should be a wake-up call to all parties but particularly the Conservatives.
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The Tories may well win the next general election via England. However this will not go down to well in Scotland, I suspect. The next GE is in say 2010. How will the Scottish vote at the 2011 Holyrood elections if there is a Tory Westminster government?
May 3rd, 2008 at 7:16 pmThey may well take the plunge and put the SNP into power with a clear majority!
Also, Alex Salmond has said that if the majority of Scottish constituency MPs returned at the next GE are SNP then he will take this as a mandate to hold a referendum. So, if that happens we could see a referendum on Scottish independence in the next 2-3 years. With a Tory Wetminster government under ‘call me Dave’ Cameron many Scots may decide enough is enough and go for independence!
You’ve been warned Mr Cameron. Do something about this mess or you could be PM at the end of the Union!
Cameron.. will be clutching at straws, if that happens ! cant see him committing himself ,to much ,because at the moment, He has’nt any policies ! he needs to stop sucking his pencil ! mind you anyone, is better than labour. Altho Cameron better not get to carried away, cos’ this is not about the conservatives , that vote was against anti English Labour,certainly not for the tories. & Boris johnson getting voted in, was more to do with getting rid of anti English Ken, the potential is there you see, the People just need to be fully aware ! of what is going on, they feel its not right, they need to uncover a few stones, open there eyes & read between the lines…….& in the distance beyond the hostile barren deserts.. is a oasis ! written in the sand are the words ENGLISH PARLIAMENT……..Till the Day i Die,I SAY Nothing LESS.
May 3rd, 2008 at 8:29 pmI think Cameron will win with a big majority (of seats only, but on a minority of votes in England, let alone the UK). He’ll take this as a mandate to do whatever he likes, and this doesn’t include addressing the English Question. The reason why the Tories aren’t interested in this is indeed because they’re unionist (at least, their official stance is, if not their members and voters) but also because keeping the present status quo is the only way they’ll ever get the absolute power over England (let alone the rest of the UK) that Cameron will deliver for them. They know that if there were an English parliament, no nation that’s worthy of the name would allow itself to be hoodwinked into accepting the present ridiculously disproportionate electoral system that turns a 36% share of the vote (for Labour UK-wide last time) into 55% of all seats! No single party would then ever be able to wield the damaging absolute control Labour and the Tories have been able to get away with for so long.
A Tory absolute majority based almost entirely on English votes would reverse the present situation where the Labour majority is bolstered by Scottish and Welsh votes. As Derek says, this would cause massive antagonism with the Scots, in particular; so that our best hope for an EP for a while would probably be a pro-independence vote in a Scottish referendum. Here’s a little prediction: Cameron will do a deal to allow the Scots a referendum at some point after the 2012 Olympics. He won’t want to risk the UK breaking up humiliatingly just before it’s due to host the biggest sporting event on earth; so the SNP will be promised a vote so long as they don’t push for independence before then.
Not a good reason for voting Tory; but maybe it will be the fastest route to an EP, albeit at the cost of any continuing Union.
David, aka Britology Watch
May 4th, 2008 at 3:08 pmCeltic labour has been absolutly useless & appalling, its getting what it deserves ! also, has shown a spitefull Sectarianism ….re England.
May 4th, 2008 at 7:09 pmThe Scots could pull out of the olympics,they have been threatening that for sometime, your right about a backdoor-deal re independence of some-kind
There s alot of slippery Politicians around
England watch out !
You may get an English Parliament sooner than you think.
Wendy Alexander, the Labour Parliamentary Group Leader in Scotland, has just called for a referendum on Scottish independence.
http://www.theherald.co.uk/news/news/display.var.2246882.0.Alexander_backs_independence_referendum_in_shock_Uturn.php
http://thescotsman.scotsman.com/latestnews/Wendy-39Bring-it-on39.4049804.jp
We’re still trying to work out whether this has been backed by Brown, (most probably as Wendy is his glove puppet in Scotland), whether the rest of the Labour party in Scotland thinks this way and how this fits in with any Labour strategies. It looks like a panic measure as SNP support grows and the implications of the debacle in the English local elections sink in.
Since Labour has always been vehemently against an independence referendum and as they’ve just set up the Calman Commission with the Lib-Dems and the Conservatives to look at all aspects of improving devolution except independence we’re all delighted but puzzled in the nationalist camp.
May 5th, 2008 at 9:10 amThe time to influence the Conservative party is now. The danger is that the party is riding so high that it doesn’t think it needs to address this issue. ( See John Redwoods blog – for a call for an English vote on the Union ).
Ken Clarke must be stopped (as usual).
May 7th, 2008 at 10:01 amI just submitted this comment (awaiting moderation) …
May 7th, 2008 at 11:20 amI have sent this
The call for British MPs to be dual mandated only applies to England so that in comparison with Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland we are still to be short-changed. How much more credible this answer to UK devolution would be if those that support dual mandated MPs for England also supported this solution in the other devolved territories, but they do not. So the 85% of British taxpayers who live in England will continue to have to support the salaries and pensions of the 297 extra MPs [and their attendant bureaucrats] imposed on them without their permission, since they were never asked, since 1997.
May 9th, 2008 at 8:08 amScilla Cullen
Chairman, Campaign for an English Parliament
[...] and representation to each of the nations of the UK under a federal system, including England. As I’ve suggested before, maybe Cameron will do a deal with the SNP to hold a referendum after the 2012 Olympics – giving [...]
May 11th, 2008 at 10:50 am