Denial of England
Devolution Matters is a new blog brought to you by Alan Trench, who aims to bring a little academic knowledge and professional bearing to the debate over our ‘territorial constitution’.
I left a comment on ‘David Cameron, welfare and constitutional literacy‘, in which Alan highlights David Cameron’s territorial confusion, but Alan didn’t publish it because he considered it not concise enough. Rather than consigning my comment to the ether I will reproduce it here because long though it may be I think it is relevant.
It’s a con-trick. Played not just on the English but on the Scots too, as a quick look at the 2005 Labour Party’s Scottish Manifesto will show. For the 2005 General Election, to Westminster, Labour’s Scottish Manifesto took credit for measures that have gone through the Scottish Parliament, and made promises to Scotland over policy areas that were the responsibility of the Scottish Executive:
- “Investing in schools”
- “Action to reduce long NHS waits”
- “In Scotland, we have abolished up-front tuition fees and introduced access payments of up to £2,000, targeted at students from lower income families, funded by the Graduate Endowment.”
- “Labour has already delivered free local off-peak bus travel for Scottish pensioners.”
- “We are providing the public with more convenient access to much better information about health and health services through the National Waiting Times Database.” (Curiously the National Waiting Times Database is not mentioned in Labour’s UK Manifesto.)
- “We will modernise Scotland’s licensing laws.” (Licensing (Scotland) Act 2005, an Act of the Scottish Parliament.)
- “In Scotland, pensioners will continue to benefit from our free central heating and home insulation programme.”
- “As we continue investment and reform, we will drive for ambitious, excellent secondary schools across Scotland.”
- “We have also turned around Scotland’s tourism industry.”
- “We are completing the gaps in the road network and will make major investment to complete the M74,upgrade the A8 and A80,and build the second Kincardine Bridge and the Aberdeen Western Peripheral Route.”
It’s a complete mish-mash of confusion, designed to persuade Scots to
vote in a general election on issues (policy areas) that are the
responsibility of the Scottish Parliament, whilst at the same time the
centre (the UK Labour Government) takes credit for what the ‘Scottish
Labour Party’ has achieved for Scotland.It’s anti-democratic subterfuge!
The 2007 Scottish Labour Party Manifesto (for elections to the Scottish Parliament) states:
“Only three countries significantly outperform us. Labour will build Scottish education so young Scots overtake those three countries, giving young Scots the best chance in the world to succeed in the global economy.
Labour’s ambition is to build the best education system in the world by 2020.”
The leader of the Scottish Labour Party (insofar as one exists), by virtue of leading the National Executive, is Gordon Brown:
1 There shall be a National Executive Committee of the party (the ‘NEC’) which shall, subject to the control and directions of party conference, be the administrative authority of the party.
2 The party shall be organised on the following basis:
(d) In Scotland, Wales and each of the English regions there shall be established: a Scottish Labour, Wales Labour or regional party office; a Scottish executive, Welsh executive or regional board; and a European constituency labour party. There may also be established a
Scottish, Welsh or regional women’s committee. – Labour
Party ConstitutionHow can a Scottish party under Gordon Brown’s leadership pledge to build for Scotland “the best education system in the world” when Brown is ultimately responsible for the education system in England?
Perhaps this is why the Department of Education in England has removed the word ‘England’ from its remit.
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Well made point, I give you a clap and a hug.
November 12th, 2009 at 5:45 pmWe can sum this up by the use of words such as; Discrimination, Prejudice, Bigotry and Racism. To the people of England no less.
November 12th, 2009 at 6:45 pmExcellent points well made.
I wonder if the Scots see through this illusion, especially after the latest Glasgow byelection. Only 33% bothered to vote, the lowest turnout since anyone bothered counting.
Most voters are concerned with issues such as Health, Education, Crime and job security. So, where’s the incentive to turn out on a rain-swept autumn evening to vote for a piece of English-only lobby fodder?
November 13th, 2009 at 9:04 amwhat is the CEP doing to mark St Edmund’s Day on November the 20th? he was the first patron saint of the English, and was martyred for his Christian faith by heathen Danes
November the 20th is also the wedding anniversary of Her Majesty the Queen
St Edmund’s Day is also the last day of England Month, which began on the eve of Trafalgar day.
The Young Wessex League
November 13th, 2009 at 12:23 pm“Zeaxe; owre land and volc”
Since the Devolution Acts of 1998 the Labour and Conservative parties have issued three manifestos, one for Wales, one for Scotland and another one either for the UK or Britain. Clearly these so-called unionist parties do so because they are offering different incentives for voting for them in Scotland and Wales. Meanwhile the man on the Clapham omnibus (in England) in receipt of the UK/Britain manifesto is beguiled into thinking that the domestic policies therein apply to the whole of Britain.
This is a sinister deception
With regard to St Edmund’s day-that is a celebration for the English. The CEP encourages celebration of England’s patron saint, St George, as the patron saint of all who have chosen England as their home, regardless of how they identify themselves.
November 13th, 2009 at 3:01 pmScottish Labour will have difficulty pulling the same trick at the next general election.The SNP have been in power since 2007!
Will they slag off the incumbent Scottish government? It might dawn on Scottish voters that they have been previously lied to!
November 13th, 2009 at 3:17 pmIf the Tories win the next GE, with an SNP Scottish government and a UK Tory government the differences will hopefully be really obvious to everyone! Maybe even ITV News might understand.
November 13th, 2009 at 3:20 pmScilla [5], while St George is recognised as the patron saint of multi-ethnic England, shouldn’t the CEP also recognise St Edmund’s Day on November the 20th? he may just be the patron saint of the English, but don’t the English have a place in this multi-ethnic England?
The Young Wessex League
November 14th, 2009 at 10:47 am“Zeaxe; owre land and volc”
Spratt, if an English government decides to honour St Edmund as well as St George then that’s fine by us. But it’s for an English government to decide, not a British government.
November 14th, 2009 at 10:53 amHarold Wilson lied to the Scots about the potential of North Sea oil in order to head off the nationalists there. if the Scots had not fallen for it, Scotland would, today, be as well off as Norway and there would still a good reserve of oil under the North Sea. Margaret Thatcher sold the extraction rights to the Americans. the proceeds form that sell-off went to fund the unemployment under her and John Major.
The Young Wessex League
November 14th, 2009 at 10:55 am“Zeaxe; owre land and volc”
Wonkosane [9], the question regarding the marking of St Edmund’s day on the 20th of November and St Edmund, the patron saint of the native English (as opposed to St George as the patron saint of multi-ethnic England), was addressed to the CEP; not to the British government
The Young Wessex League
November 14th, 2009 at 11:04 am“Zeaxe; owre land and volc”
With regard to the comments by T R Spratt.
Let’s all get an English Parliament and then if we wish to argue about Saints Days.
November 15th, 2009 at 8:51 amTR Sparatt.
November 16th, 2009 at 2:37 pmHave you become a convert to the cause?
I thought you were a regionalist, wanting seperate parliaments for Wessex and other historic English Kingdoms?
Hopefully you have been converted to the logic of an English Parliament.
i am not a regionalist and do not seek parliaments for the historic kingdoms. at one stage i was persuaded (against my gut feelings)that the Wessex Regionalist party founded by Lord Bath was primarily interested in Wessex. however i now realise that the Wessex Regionalist Party’s primary interest is regionalism within the EU, leading to the extinction of England. they realise that the government’s regions have no resonance with the English people, so they seek to resurrect the Anglo-Saxon heptarchy plus Cornwall as regions. their Wessex is within boundaries which never existed in history. their Wessex is the government’s South West region moved eastward somewhat (so as to allow Cornwall as a region). the Wessex Regionalist Party’s support for the Cornish nationalists’ cause is part and parcel of their aim of removing England from the map
The Young Wessex League
November 17th, 2009 at 10:34 am“Zeaxe; owre land and volc”
SOUTH WEST NORFOLK
Why don’t digruntled Tories like Sir Jeremy Bagge recognise that they are banging their heads against a brick wall, make the break, and join the English Democrats Party?
The Young Wessex League
November 17th, 2009 at 10:41 am“Zeaxe, owre land and volc”
When Greenland split from Denmark, it automatically split from the EU, since the treaty obligations were Denmark’s not Greenland’s. the same would be true of England. an English parliament will inevitably lead to the break up of the United Kingdom, leaving England with a clean sheet with regards to the EU. the English nationalists (currently represented by the English Democrats Party) are right about this. UKIP and the BNP, and of course the three old parties have to oppose the introduction of an English parliament because they are all unionist parties. they, including UKIP and the BNP, tie England hand and foot with respect to the EU.
The Young Wessex League
November 17th, 2009 at 10:55 am“Zeaxe; owre land and volc”
Spratt, Greenland is still Danish but has so much autonomy that it is, to all intents and purposes, independent. Greenland chose to leave the EU under its own steam. If Greenland was still part of the EU at a time that it split from Denmark completely, then it would be up to the Danish and Greenlandic governments to negotiate which of them would take on the status of successor state. If Scotland declared independence from the UK then what was left of the UK would continue to be a member of the EU. If the whole of the UK split up then it would be down to the newly independent nations to decide which of them would be the successor state and take on all the rights and responsibilities of the former UK. This would apply to EU membership as well as UN membership, the Commonwealth, etc. The successor state takes on the rights and responsibilities from treaties signed the state it is succeeding was party to. This is why it is rubbish to suggest that England – which will undoubtedly be the successor state of the UK post-independence – would not take the UK’s seat on the UN Security Council or that the Commonwealth would dissolve or any of the other lies about losing “our” place in the inner circle of world powers.
November 17th, 2009 at 12:12 pmJust to add to Wonko’s comment: The Isle of Man is not part of the EU despite it’s historic link with England.
November 17th, 2009 at 3:59 pmLooks like Spratt is a convert
So if the tories get in we will still be lumbered with regions
thanks to Major, Clarke and EU Cameron
But Hopefully other parties will make up ground on the main three because we have so many dissolusioned people around including lots of tories !
Tories have gone Totti, Labour is lumbered Liberals just a waste of space.
November 17th, 2009 at 10:24 pmLets see what the Queens speech throws up ! some suprise’s ?
It seems to me that the Tories are now more concerned with doing away with the law banning Fox Hunting, filling the seats at the commons with Dave’s Dollies and following exactly the same path that Tone and Gordy have for 12 years. Lord help us.
November 18th, 2009 at 7:13 amJust to make it clear about Saint Edmund and St.George. St Edmund is the patron Saint of the English whereas St.George is the patron Saint of the Land called England
November 18th, 2009 at 8:38 amSo, lets get this straight….St Edmund is the patron saint of the Anglo Saxon English, and St George is the patron saint of the English nation.
Where does England’s national flag fit into all this, does St Edmund have his own flag.
I can feel a nervous breakdown coming on!!!, perhaps the Celts are right, we don’t know our a*** from our elbow.
November 18th, 2009 at 10:37 amWonkotsane [17] if England were to do the leaving of the UK, as English nationalists want, it would not take with it the treaty obligations of the UK. they would remain with Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland as the United Kindom, that is why they are “residual”
The Young Wessex League
November 18th, 2009 at 10:55 am“Zeaxe; owre land and volc”
[22] the red cross on a white flag is also the St Michael flag of Cornwall’s patron saint. it might be thought of as St Edmund’s flag, too. it often appears bearing the crown pierced with arrows which symbolises St Edmund.
The Young Wessex League
November 18th, 2009 at 11:01 am“Zeaxe; “owre land and volc”
I’m really confused now!!!!!!!!!!!!!
November 23rd, 2009 at 12:12 pm