For the benefit of Scotland

The Scottish fishermen are concerned about a proposal from the European Commission. That would allow the Commission to give any unused fishing quota from one country to another.
It is felt that the industry which has already suffered a reduction of more than 50% of its capacity because of the Common Fisheries Policy would be further [...]

Why we do not need an English Parliament

The short answer is because the Labour party would loose influence over England because they would never gain a majority in an English Parliament. And it would make Westminster even more redundant that it already is, if that were possible.
But Helen Goodman decided to opt for the longer answer in her reply to a [...]

It`s All Our Fault

Alan Cochrane writing in the Telegraph says it is “good to hear the Tory leader reject the populist appeal of English nationalism.”
I find it rather odd that when writing about the elections to the Scottish Parliament it is somehow the English which are to blame for the present mess the Scottish raj which is controlling [...]

House of Lords Reform II

I said I was going to post on Jonathan Freedland article in the Guardian about the reform of the House of Lords, I do not intend to actually comment on Freedland`s article, except to say he is suggesting a fully elected house and use that as a springboard for my own thoughts. Although many belive [...]

The BNP and an English Parliament

There are many who belive that only way out of the mess Tony Blair has made of the British Constitution is the creation of a separate English parliament, give more power to the Scottish Parliament and to the Welsh Assembly which would then become the Welsh parliament, and then to create a smaller federal style [...]

It`s in the details

The presiding officer of the Welsh assembly has said that devolution in England would help deliver a “United Kingdom in a united Europe.”
Lord Elis-Thomas said giving people in England a similar say in their domestic affairs would help achieve a more secure constitutional settlement.

“There should be a proper English parliament, and that [...]

The West Lothian Question

From Little Man in a Toque a letter to Sir Menzies Campbell who has only ever had one email on the West Lothian Question.
westminster_office@mingcampbell.org.uk

Who says
the English do not want their own parliament
that the English don’t want another layer of government
that an English parliament would put the English off politics

As the e-mal explains [...]

Now England wants its independence!

Very strange polling results in the Telegraph,
“an ICM opinion poll for The Sunday Telegraph has found. Independence is backed by 52 per cent of Scots while an astonishing 59 per cent of English voters want Scotland to go it alone.”
68 percent of English voters and 58 per cent of Scottish voters support for [...]

ENGLISH VOTES ON ENGLISH MATTERS

The Campaign for an English Parliament has just issued a full report on the devolution process, going by the title of
DEVOLUTION FOR ENGLAND
A CRITIQUE OF THE CONSERVATIVE PARTY POLICY
‘ENGLISH VOTES ON ENGLISH MATTERS’

The report details the devolution progress to date and explores some of the problems that have been created by [...]

West Lothian question

So Jack Straw and couple of Scotish MP`s think that the Tories proposal for English votes on English matters is” utterly disgraceful, anti-British, unpatriotic” and “would lead inexorably to the break up of the United Kingdom.”

One is tempted to wonder why it is that those same people do not see a problem with allowing [...]

The English will be heard, by George

Until a few years ago I, like most English people, thought of myself as British. Being English was something we did in our spare time, and gave little thought to. How times have changed.
The Blair Government, devolution and the rule of a majority in Britain (the English) by a minority (the Scots) have all sharpened [...]

Independence in Higher Education and Research

 Quite often we are offered academic reports and studies from diverse academic organisations, which carry with them the assurance that these are nothing more than impartial academic discourse.
This must be the case because they were prepared and presented by independent academics, whos only thoughts are to report honestly and fairly on their particular subject. Of [...]

The English Question

The English Question
Thanks to the Blog Great Britian not Little England for the link to this report from Publius: The Journal of Federalism by Robert Hazell.
Devolution to Scotland and Wales throws up related questions about the government of
England. Does England need to find its own separate political voice? Does England too need devolution? There [...]

FLYING THE FLAG

http://www.thisisthenortheast.co.uk/the_north_east/features/HEARALLSIDES0.html
06/12/05
FLYING THE FLAG: AS one of the 84 per cent of the UK’s citizens living in England, I find it regrettable that an English newspaper should publish such an anti-English article (Echo, Dec 1).
We do not know whether its author, Helen Cannam, is English or Scottish. Quite simply, she has not had the integrity to [...]

Letters in the Press

There were four letters that court my eye this morning two in the Times and two more in the Telegraph
The first I did not see the significance of at first, but is probably the most important, because it covers quite a bit of ground, and also either shows the Conservatives to be particularly gullible, particularly [...]

The Edge of England’s Sword

I have not read this site much in the past, but can recomend if only for the last two posts which is all I have read. A thoughtful look at the hunting issue and the story that “Senior Tory MPs are drawing up secret plans to reduce the role of ordinary Conservative members in future [...]

Regional Assemblies

Although I do not live in the North East I have been supporting their ‘NO’ campaign on this blog and by and writing letters to their local papers.
The only problem is that there is in the North East and in the rest of the England already regional assemblies.
So the real question that should be asked [...]