I have been challenging the Lib Dems on the subject of English Devolution ...
Hi,
I've been speaking to my local Lib Dem PPC (Ian Jenkins) who seems to be a very nice man and very helpful. I shall certainly be voting for him at the next election. Anyway, what I am writing to you about is English devolution. It is something that has been ignored for too long. I see that there is an English Lib Dems party but the website for it says that all decisions are made by the national party. This seems a little hollow, especially when England accounts for in excess of 50% of the population of the UK.
I want to vote Lib Dem in the general election and I want Lib Dems to get into power. I also want a proper debate on English devolution. Lib Dems are in a pretty strong position this time round. Nobody really likes the Tories or Labour. What are my chances of seeing both of these happen?
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Dear Stuart,
Liberal Democrats will strengthen the powers of the National Assembly for Wales and the Northern Ireland Assembly. We will examine how to extend the role of the Scottish Parliament in consultation with the Scottish
Executive. In England, both the Conservatives and Labour have built up a powerful but unelected tier of regional bureaucracy. Liberal Democrats will scrap unnecessary quangos throughout England, reform regional boundaries to make them more representative where people wish it, and give people through referenda the opportunity to have a regional assembly to make existing regional bureaucracy accountable. Underpinning these reforms will be a new system for dividing up government money within the UK so that there is
fair funding for the nations and regions according to their real needs.
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Hi,
Thanks for getting back to me. I was thinking about this email earlier and I was getting into the situation where I was impressed by my local PPC but the fact that my email hadn't been replied to was making me less than
impressed with the national party. Looks like you stepped in at the right time.
I agree in with the principal of restructuring the way money is distributed to England. However, I don't agree with regional assemblies. The local income tax is an excellent idea. The first thing that needs
doing to distribute money fairly around England is to scrap the Barnett Formula that makes England a net contributor to the UK through unfair distribution of money to the other 3 home nations. Do the Lib Dems have
any plans for dealing with this?
I like your willingness to hold referrenda on regional assemblies, it will give everyone else the chance to reject them. I am quite confident of this outcome. Is there a willingness to give the people of England a
referrendum on an English Parliament, a solution that I think would be preferrable to dividing the country up into artificial regions? This is what Labour have already tried with the referrendum in the North East and
got a resounding rejection from the people they felt would be most likely to vote in favour.
I really don't see any benefit in regional assemblies. They will have insufficient powers and will not have enough clout to fight at the same level as the Scottish Parliament and Welsh Assembly. England will still
be the only country in the EU without direct political representation and there will still be nobody to fight England's corner. England is a country in its own right, it isn't a collection of regions. There is a
gross misjustice in the current system which sees Scottish and Welsh MP's casting deciding votes on English matters to pass legislation that English MP's oppose. How will regional assemblies fix this?
I do agree that the issue of unelected quango's needs to be resolved and that money needs to be distributed more fairly around the country but you have to look at the root cause of the problem - prevention is better than
cure. I really can't get over your first sentence which, for me, is indicative of the political bias against England. You will strengthen the Welsh and Scottish devolved governments but will split England up into
regions. Please tell me, honestly and truthfully, what is the problem that politicians have with allowing English devolution? What is it that is so disgusting about England that politicians won't even talk about it?
Stuart
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Dear Stuart,
Thank you for your email. Liberal Democrats will set up a Commission for the Nations and Regions of the UK, made up of representatives of the current devolved governments and of the English regions. This body will be charged with the task of deciding how central government support to the nations and regions should be made. Currently this is decided under the Barnett Formula. The Commission will need to take into account need and social deprivation.
We do not support the establishment of an English Parliament. Many functions are carried out at a regional level and we want these brought under the collective control of local authorities within their own regions.
The creation of an English Parliament would be an unnecessary tier.
I hope this is helpful
Dean
Dean Gargano
Information Unit
Liberal Democrats
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Hi,
I agree that regional functions should be collectively controlled but I disagree that regional assemblies are the way to do it. An English Parliament on the same basis as the Scottish Parliament would merely devolve functions from the national government to another body. The national governmment could be drastically downsized as it would no longer be handling the day to day running of 5/6 of the UK's population alongside national matters.
For 5/6 of the population to have no direct political representation is simply undemocratic. Because of all these formulae to ensure England doesn't dominate Britain, we find ourselves in a position where the Scots and Welsh can wield ultimate control over England while English politicians have to stay out of Scottish and Welsh matters. Unless every regional assembly in England was to be given the same powers as the Scottish Parliament, this wouldn't improve the balance of power in the UK at all. A small region would be like a minnow in the ocean of British politics - they would be utterly powerless to act in the best interests of their region in the face of self-serving Welsh AM's and Scottish MSP's legislating for England.
The people of the North East voted against regional assemblies and the rest of the country is bound to follow. Don't forget that the spin-happy Labour government were 100% positive that the North East region would be the one most likely to vote for a regional assembly. They rejected the idea with a huge majority, what makes the Lib Dems think that the rest of the country will want it?
From a personal perspective, I live in Shropshire which is part of the West Midlands region. Shropshire is the most rural county in England while the West Midlands is dominated by Birmingham, the UK's second city, which is a massive urban sprawl 35 miles away. Most of the West Midlands is a densely populated, industrialised connurbation. People in Shropshire don't have any affiliation with the West Midlands. Shropshire has never been part of the West Midlands. Politicians in Birmingham wouldn't know where to start when dealing with a place like Shropshire. The people of Shropshire have more of an affiliation, historically and presently, with Wales than they do with the West Midlands. How would being lumped in with the rest fo the West Midlands benefit Shropshire?
The local authority/council system should remain and the country of England should be run by an English Parliament. English people don't belong to regions - there is no feeling of regionalism in England. England is a country that has been united for hundreds of years and should not be divided up into irrelevant political regions for the sake of keeping the Scots and Welsh happy.
Again, there is no need for an English Parliament to increase the level of beurocracy or to create an unneccesary extra tier of government. This hasn't happened in scotland or Wales and there is no reason for it to happen in England. The devolution of power in Scotland and Wales has brought many tangible benefits to the people of those countries. It is time that the English had the opportunity to decide whether they want to live as equals in the United Kingdom or whether they want to continue to be ruled by our so called partners in the union.
If you want a clear indication of whether the English want regionalism or a national parliament, if and when you get into power, hold a referrendum on the subject. The people have spoken, regionalism is dead.
So, my question again - will the English have the opportunity to vote in a referendum on whether they want an English Parliament?
Stuart