The letter pictured is from Jonathan Shaw MP and it came winging its way to the CEP (Campaign for an English parliament) from a frustrated CEP member today.
It was a reply to the usual complaints:
Why should Scottish MPs be able to vote on English legislation?
Why can't England be given the same level of independence as Scotland?
Why should the Scots and Welsh be able to vote on things without interference from my MP?
They are simple questions, they require simple answers. Instead, in line with Government policy, the reply obfuscated and patronised. It is the kind of reply that many CEP members have received time and time again. We will refute it here and now for the benefit of other MPs that are considering sending their constituents similar feeble excuses.
"The British Parliament is based on the fundamental principle that every member is equal. All members can speak on all subjects."
"Having equality for all Members of Parliament at the centre is symbolic of our aspiration for all corners of the UK to be treated equally. It is an essential unifying part of our country. To say that one class of Member of Parliament must only vote on one class of issue is a slippery slope."
The Government broke the fundamental principle that every member should be equal when it gave devolved government to Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland and left England out of the equation. This created different classes of MP. For example English MPs can vote on English healthcare legislation but cannot vote on Scottish healthcare legislation, whereas Scottish MPs can vote on English healthcare legislation but cannot vote on Scottish healthcare legislation. It is a farcical situation.
Creating an English parliament would mean that MPs for an English Parliament could vote on English healthcare legislation but not on Scottish healthcare legislation, and it would mean that Scottish MSPs could vote on Scottish healthcare but not England's. It would create a system whereby all MPs are equal and it would not affect the legislation that the UK parliament passes for the UK as a whole. Short of scrapping the devolved parliaments it is the only equitable system and it would prevent Scottish MPs overturning the democratic wishes of the English people - as expressed through their representatives in Parliament - as was the case in the top-up fees bill and the foundation hospitals bill.
--- 21st October 2004
--------------------------------------------------------------------
Prescott flouts democratic rule
Heard the one about a Scotsman and two Welshmen illegally campaigning to break up England into EU regions?
From Christopher Booker's notebook:
Deputy Prime Minister John Prescott (a Welshman) is so keen to secure a Yes vote in next month's referendum on an elected regional assembly for the North-East that, last week, he and two other ministers, Gordon Brown and Peter Hain, were out on the campaign trail. (As Mr Brown put it in Newcastle, "I believe that a Yes vote would be good for the people and the businesses in the North-East.")
[Peter Hain said: "Voters in the North-East should think big and bold about the future of a regional assembly and not worry about the few extra bob it will cost to run it."]
On Thursday Neil Herron of the North-East No campaign lodged an official complaint with the Electoral Commission. He pointed out that the politicians' visit was in clear breach of the Referendums Act 2000, which rules that Ministers of the Crown may not actively campaign to promote a specific result within 28 days of the start of polling in a referendum. At the same time he asked the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister to explain why ministers appeared to be breaking the law.
He was told that they were not campaigning in their capacity as Deputy Prime Minister, Chancellor of the Exchequer and Leader of the House, but simply as Labour MPs (although this was not how their presence in the North-East was reported). When Mr Herron asked whether they had used ministerial transport to travel to the North-East, no explanation was forthcoming.
Perhaps the Electoral Commission, which has a statutory duty to ensure that the law is observed, would like to investigate, with a view to possible prosecution.
--- 17th Oct 2004
------------------------------------------------------------------------
It is official, we have an English Parliament! (Not)
Don't break out the drink just yet though. Here is a reply from the House of Commons Information Office to a CEP member's enquiry as to "where is the English Parliament?"
"Thank you for your email.
The English Parliament sits in Westminster Palace (London) in the Chamber of Commons to conduct business. For more information you can look at the Parliamentary website: www.parliament.uk particularly at the factsheets online which give detailed information on the business conducted as well as the House of Commons itself. The direct link to the factsheets is:
http://www.parliament.uk/parliamentary_publications_and_archives/factsheets.cfm
I hope this is useful.
Yours sincerely
Nathalie Hart
House of Commons Information Office "
Hopefully Nathalie Hart will do us the courtesy of telling all the Scottish, Welsh and Northern Irish MPs that sit in the aforementioned 'English Parliament' to get the hell out and to go and conduct their politics in their own parliaments and assemblies. Either that or stop the propaganda and respond to future enquiries by stating categorically that there is no English Parliament.
--- 14th October 2004
-----------------------------------------
Shock News: England disadvantaged!
OK, so it's not a shock. Let's take a look at what the Welsh Government has achieved for Wales
1. free prescriptions for the under 25s, and reduced prescriptions for everybody else;
2. free eye tests for high risk groups;
3. free bus passes for pensioners and disabled people (which allow pass holders to travel from one end of Wales to the other);
4. free school milk for infants;
Just how do they manage this? Easy, under the Barnett formula each person in Wales receives £1026* per head per year in Government spending than a person in England.
In 2003 the Welsh Government pledged to:
1. extend free prescriptions to all;
2. end home care charges for the disabled;
3. introduce free breakfasts for all primary school pupils;
4. free entry to swimming pools for older people and school pupils during holidays;
5. an extension of the free bus travel scheme;
6. and a promise of no top up fees in Welsh universities for the duration of the next Assembly - top up fees were imposed upon English students by the votes of Scottish and Welsh MPs, English MPs voted against top-up fees.
Angry? You should be, there is no English government pledging to bring the same benefits to England.
* Source: HM Treasury; PESA 'Identifiable Expenditure' April 2004)
--- 12th Oct 2004
------------------------------------------------------------
Blair's Reshuffle Puts a Scotsman in an English Ministerial Post
John Reid MP, a Scotsman, has been put in charge of the ENGLISH Health system. As a Scottish MP he has no say in how the Scottish Health system is run due to the fact that health is a matter devolved to the Scottish Parliament. He is now in an ENGLISH ministerial post when he has NO mandate from the English voters - he was elected by his Scottish constituency. Effectively we now have two classes of voters in the UK, those that have a say in how their country is run and those that have MPs that are unaccountable to them running their country.
In the Scotsman a sharp eyed lady wrote in with this superb piece of investigative journalism:
'I was reading some political speeches and saw this gem from 1993. "Offering English voters a government which consists of a Scottish prime minister, a Scottish chancellor, a Scottish home secretary and a Scottish social security secretary would be politically disadvantageous. The political balance has got to be kept."
Who said this? None other than Dr John Reid, the new Health Secretary. I wonder if he still holds the same views?'
---------------------------------------------
http://www.thecep.org.uk/news.shtml