When you think of Minority Rule, what do you think of? Some third world country ruled by an overbearing political class or military junta? Specifics? Somewhere like Iraq maybe? Perhaps Palestine or South Africa in it's apartheid days? What about England? You'd be surprised - read on ...
Wilkipedia defines Minority Rule as follows:
Minoritarianism (a neologism essentially meaning Minority Rule) is a political philosophy or agenda which asserts that a segment of a country's population (sometimes categorized by religion, language or some other identifying factor) to which a minority of its citizens belong is entitled to obstruct political progress sought by a majority or is otherwise entitled to a certain degree of primacy in that country's society, which means having the right to make decisions that affect the society.
That doesn't apply to England does it? It is, after all, the mother of all parliaments. Part of the United Kingdom, one of the fundamental cornerstones of worldwide democracy. Or is it?
The population of the UK is in the region of 60 million, of which 5/6ths (around 50 million) live in England. The government of the United Kingdom consists of elected representitives from all four of the home nations - England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. However, because of the way devolution was handled, Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales each have their own national governments which has authority over certain devolved matters such as Transport and Health. These devolved matters are the responsibility of their respective governments. There is no devolution for England so all matters, whether they only affect England or the whole of the UK, are dealt with by the UK government.
Under a logical system of government this wouldn't necessarily be a problem as you would expect 5/6ths of the government to be come from English constituencies. However, this isn't the case. Prior to devolution in Scotland and Wales, the ratio of Scottish and Welsh MP's was skewed in their favour so that the government wasn't dominated by English MP's. I can understand the sense in that and I can accept that as a sensible choice because we are all equals in this Union ... allegedly. The problem now is that since devolution, the balance of power is now firmly in the favour of the Scots and Welsh. Through devolution they now have control over their own domestic policy and that of England. Because the number of MP's from Scotland and Wales is still biased against England, Scottish and Welsh MP's can cast deciding votes on English-only matters. This has been done on two notable occassions - University Tuition Fees and Foundation Hospitals. Neither of these bills affected Scotland but Scottish MP's still got to vote on them. They passed only because of Scottish MP's - if it was left to only English MP's they would both have been defeated.
Another symptom of this bizzare political system (recently described as one that would be embarassing to a banana republic) is the situation where politicians elected in Scotland or Wales can hold a position in the UK government in a department that only has jurisdiction in England. Prior to the recent election, the post of Transport Minister in the UK government was held by Alistair Darling. Transport is a devolved matter which means that Transport in Scotland is dealt with by the Scottish Parliament, in Wales by the Welsh Assembly and in England, where there is no devolved authority, by the UK government. Mr Darling is Scottish and was elected by a Scottish constituency. However, despite the fact he was not elected by an English constituency and therefore unaccountable to the English people, he was given the post of Transport Minister. Let me just recap this point in case you missed it - a politician elected in Scotland, accountable only to his constituents in Scotland was in charge of a Transport Department that had no jurisdiction over the country, let alone constituency, that elected him.
The results of the election this week make interesting reading. Although Labour won a majority in the UK as a whole, it was the Conservatives that secured the most number of votes in England. In Scotland or Wales this would, of course, reflect in the devolved goverments. A Conservative majority vote in the general election in Scotland or Wales is virtually guaranteed to result in a Conservative majority in the Scottish Parliament and Welsh Assembly.
Because England has no parliament of its own, the fact that the Conservatives won the majority of the votes in England doesn't have any effect on who governs England. The Labour Party received less votes than the Conservatives and so, logically, cannot claim to have a mandate on English matters. If devolution had been extended to England as well as Scotland and Wales, the party that the English people voted for could now be the ones making decisions in England. As it stands, England is now under Minority Rule - the government currently in power was not elected by 5/6ths of the population.
So why is it important? Well, there has been a CEP for a while now which is slowly growing in momentum. A growing number of English people are getting fed up with being discriminated against, of being ruled by politicians that are unaccountable to English people and of having the Englishness bred out of us. The English flag is rarely flown on public buildings, St George's Day is largely ignored by the establishment and we are constantly being told that we are British and that England doesn't exist. Rather than give England it's own Parliament and equality within the United Kingdom, the government wants to divide England up into political regions that mean nothing to the people who live in them. Why should England submit to Minority Rule?
During the Soviet era, the Russians (who effectively controlled the whole USSR), embarked on a campaign of "Rusification". During this period, they replaced the native language of Soviet states with Russian and set about imposing Russian culture and traditions onto their inhabitants. The aim of this was to bring about a situation whereby the native population of the Soviet states no longer felt themselves Ukrainian or Latvian or whatever, but they felt themselves the same as everyone else (ie. the Russian majority). What is happening in the UK at the moment is a similar situation. Let's call it Britification. The UK government are seeking to replace Englishness with Britishness so we will midlessly and compliantly agree to the regionalisation of our country and submit to Minority Rule.
What can you do to ensure that England doesn't end up as merely a name for a geographic area consisting of a group of political regions under Minority Rule? For a start, you can start by signing the petition on the Campaign for an English Parliament website. You can write to your local MP, the Prime Minister and your local and national press. But most importantly, you can tell people about it. If they say they aren't interested, tell them anyway. Tell them that Scottish students don't pay university fees in Scotland because of the Scottish Parliament and that English students do because of Scottish MP's. Tell them that Welsh pensioners don't pay for their care when they are unable to look after themselves properly because of the Welsh Assembly but English pensioners do because there isn't an English Parliament and the Scottish and Welsh MP's would never give it to us. Tell them that Welsh people don't pay for their prescriptions because of the Welsh Assembly but English people do because there is no English Parliament and the Scottish and Welsh MP's wouldn't never agree to it. But above all, tell them that they should not be ashamed to be English. Being proud of England doesn't mean you're a bad person. Flying the CoSG instead of the Union Flag doesn't mean you are a traitor or no longer British. If you convince one person then you have done your bit for your country.
English first, British second..