Campaign for an English Parliament

The left-wing Labour Party affiliated think tank, the Institute for Public Policy Research (IPPR), has produced a very important and exciting report on devolution.

The IPPR’s press release is as follows:

Ten years on from the introduction of Labour’s devolution settlement for Scotland and Wales, there is a clear consensus among MPs over the need for new arrangements in the way England is governed, according to a new survey of MPs conducted by ippr.

The English Question: The View from Westminster finds that a significant proportion of MPs feel that:

• England is losing out because of devolution.
• The ‘English question’ has to be addressed and the status quo is not an option.
• Funding formulas which favour Scotland and Wales need to be reformed.

However ippr’s analysis argues that steps to improve the governance of England within the Union and to address the unequal distribution of public spending–  are being hampered by the inability of MPs to overcome narrow party interest.

Michael Kenny, Research Associate at the Institute for Public Policy Research said:

“Given the obvious democratic deficit  regarding England’s position within the Union and the growing concern about questions such as the distribution of public spending between the different nations, there is a clear need for our politicians to engage with these issues in a more independent and far-sighted fashion.

Our survey has shown that MPs across the parties see the need for reform. But calculations about narrow party advantage act as a barrier to  action.” .

The report’s main findings include:

• Only 10% of respondents to the survey arguing that ‘England should be governed as it is now’. Interestingly the responses to this questions differed according to party allegiances, highlighting that the establishment of a consensus on reforming the government of England is being blocked by the iron grip of party self-interest:
  • Most Conservative MPs when questioned, favoured the reforms to the procedures of the House of Commons known as ‘English votes for English Laws’ (this option is favoured by 44% of MPs, among whom 52% are Conservative).
  • A significant number of Labour MPs still support the introduction of a form of regional government within England (the preference 43% of MPs, the majority of whom are Labour MPs and supported by no Conservative MP), despite the set-back to this idea associated with the No vote in the North East referendum of 2004.
• Overwhelming support across the political divide on levels of public money received by the constituent nations of the United Kingdom. A significant majority of MPs (62%) believe that the current system is unfair. Among those who think it unfair are 74% of Conservative respondents and 50% of Labour ones.
• It is Conservative MPs who are the least supportive of the ‘localism’ agenda. Despite the importance the Conservative Party leadership has placed on localism, a smaller proportion of Conservative MPs than Labour or Lib Dem MPs believe that empowering local government would help address the democratic deficit in England. Among those favouring this proposal, 51% are Labour MPs compared to 24% of Conservative MPs.
• Even fewer Conservative MPs believe that localism will be implemented in the future. 43% of MPs believe that there will be reform in this direction, and among this group 59% are Labour and 22% are Conservative. This suggests that this flagship policy for Cameron’s Conservatives has shallow roots within the parliamentary party.
• MPs appear to favour doing more to give English identity greater recognition and profile. More MPs support making St George’s Day a public holiday than oppose it (44% agreed with this proposal, and 34% disagreed). Labour MPs in particular support doing more in this area (50%  of those in agreement were Labour MPs), which suggests that the Government, which has conspicuously neglected to engage with Englishness, is out of tune with opinion in its own party.
• The majority of MPs (58%) believe that Scotland will never become independent.

Notes to editors

1. The English Question: The View from Westminster is available to download.
2. These findings will provide one of a number of data sources that will feed into a major report on English national identity and the politics of England that ippr will be publishing early in 2010, entitled English Questions (by Michael Kenny and Guy Lodge).
3. The Institute for Public Policy Research sent a questionnaire survey to all MPs in 2009 to gauge the views of our elected representatives on this issue. The survey was originally sent out to all MPs in May, with reminder notices going out over the summer.
4. A complete breakdown of MPs’ responses to the questions included within this poll is set out in the paper.

This is a very important development and shows that the last decade of campaigning have not been in vain.  Devolution for England wasn’t even on the radar a decade ago, now it’s regularly in the media, discussed by academia and ordinary people alike and now it’s the subject of a report by one of the most influential think tanks in England.

But this report does beg one very important question: if there is so much support for addressing the democratic deficit in England and promoting English culture and identity, why are we still denied equality with the celts?  Why does the British Department for English Culture ignore St Georges Day?  Why do British politicians tells us we can’t have the same democratic representation the rest of the UK has?

However, it’s not all good news.  The overwhelming majority of British MPs support the dismembering of England with regional assemblies despite it being vehemently opposed by the electorate, as evidenced by the result of the referendum held in the North East of England which saw 78% vote against a regional assembly despite the British government pumping millions of pounds into the “yes” campaign.

We know that MPs acknowledge the democratic deficit in England caused by devolution and that there is an acceptance, if not a desire, that the democratic deficit has to be addressed.  But we absolutely must do everything we can to ensure that it is addressed in a manner that is acceptable to us, the English electorate and not used as an excuse for a constitutional fudge to suit the ambitions of power hungry British politicians.

Turkeys don’t vote for Christmas so we have to stop voting for turkeys.  There is an election next year, make sure your vote goes to a candidate that supports equal rights for English people.