Would you support an English Parliament?

[Sad Sprinter]

Following on from my Yorkshire Devolution thread, I wanted to know what the general opinion is on the establishment of an English Parliament. Particularly, as it seems to be the most popular option for Yorkshire's governance from the poll I set up in the Yorkshire Devolution thread.

Personally, I think an English Parliament is a crucial piece in balancing the Union and should be considered. But as s a Londoner, I see myself as more British than English, and believe many other Londoners tend to do so too. So I've added an extra option for whether London should or shouldn't be part of an English Parliament. (Personally, I think not, because no other federal nation has their capital within one particular state-it's always independent territory)

 

[telstarbox]

There is already a convention at Westminster that non-England MPs don't vote on England only matters, and that seems fine. What would an English parliament achieve compared to more regional devolution?

 

[DynamicSpirit]

I think perhaps the options need to distinguish between, "No the current situation is fine", "And no because there should be separate regional parliaments within England". I personally lean increasingly toward the latter, but haven't yet voted because there's no option to cover that.

In principle I don't really want to break England up, but I would like to see some kind of meaningful federal structure across the UK, and if you're going to do that, then I don't think it's tenable for one of the regional Parliaments to represent more than 80% of the population of the UK. Hence I would tend to go for separate parliaments for the regions as the least bad solution.

 

[Sad Sprinter]

I think perhaps the options need to distinguish between, "No the current situation is fine", "And no because there should be separate regional parliaments within England". I personally lean increasingly toward the latter, but haven't yet voted because there's no option to cover that.

In principle I don't really want to break England up, but I would like to see some kind of meaningful federal structure across the UK, and if you're going to do that, then I don't think it's tenable for one of the regional Parliaments to represent more than 80% of the population of the UK. Hence I would tend to go for separate parliaments for the regions as the least bad solution.

Good point, I’ve added that.

I do wonder though what a regional England will look like. Would it be, North West Parliament/South East Parliament, or along the old Anglo-Saxon lines I.e, Mercia, Wessex, Anglia etc. Personally, I favour towards the latter.

 

[DynamicSpirit]

I do wonder though what a regional England will look like. Would it be, North West Parliament/South East Parliament, or along the old Anglo-Saxon lines I.e, Mercia, Wessex, Anglia etc. Personally, I favour towards the latter.

I like the latter too. Part of the key to making devolution work is when people feel an emotional attachment to the region that a parliament represents, and I feel reviving traditional, historical areas is quite helpful towards that. I'm sure that has a lot to do with why the Scottish and Welsh Parliaments have become so popular. There's something romantic and inspiring about 'Wessex' that just wouldn't be there if you had 'South West England', even if the boundaries are actually quite similar (Obviously, you do need to make sure the regions are geographically workable too).

 

[Sad Sprinter]

I like the latter too. Part of the key to making devolution work is when people feel an emotional attachment to the region that a parliament represents, and I feel reviving traditional, historical areas is quite helpful towards that. I'm sure that has a lot to do with why the Scottish and Welsh Parliaments have become so popular. There's something romantic and inspiring about 'Wessex' that just wouldn't be there if you had 'South West England', even if the boundaries are actually quite similar (Obviously, you do need to make sure the regions are geographically workable too).

I definitely agree, probably one of the reasons the NE devolution assembly failed in 2004-what was New Labour thinking...

Would be interesting what happens to Cornwall, they might take the opportunity to create secede from England and be their own constitution nation. I doubt they’d become part of a ‘Wessex’ Parliament.

 

[Western Lord]

There are those who want to break up England because it is so much bigger and richer than other parts of the UK. Well, I'm English so hands off my country. I am not going to regionalised!

 

[davetheguard]

Well, I'm English so hands off my country.

To be pedantic, does England even legally exist since Great Britain was created in the 18th century?

 

[Purple Orange]

There are those who want to break up England because it is so much bigger and richer than other parts of the UK. Well, I'm English so hands off my country. I am not going to regionalised!

I’m English and I want to see English devolution to a regional level. That doesn’t mean England will be broken up, collectively it will still be England. Yet on matters such as the devolved powers in Scotland, I’d like to see similar set ups throughout the rest of the country. And, just like with Westminster, the reserved matters remain at a national level.

 

[DanNCL]

There is already a convention at Westminster that non-England MPs don't vote on England only matters, and that seems fine. What would an English parliament achieve compared to more regional devolution?

That convention is often ignored these days, with Welsh and Scottish Labour and Tory MPs as well as the DUP regularly voting on matters that only affect England.

 

[Sad Sprinter]

That convention is often ignored these days, with Welsh and Scottish Labour and Tory MPs as well as the DUP regularly voting on matters that only affect England.

An English Parliament will balance the United Kingdom. It would make England and Scotland constitutionally equal, rather than the UK government being England's government trying to tell Scotland what to do. It's the institution itself that matters rather than the voting procedures.

 

[AlterEgo]

An English Parliament will balance the United Kingdom. It would make England and Scotland constitutionally equal, rather than the UK government being England's government trying to tell Scotland what to do. It's the institution itself that matters rather than the voting procedures.

Westminster is not “England’s government”.

 

[Grecian 1998]

Two obvious problems with devolving power to England:

1. Scotland, Wales and NI are a few million people each, so there is a sense of devolving power to a smaller group. England is 56 million out of a UK population of 68 million. Not much of a reduction.

2. Devolving power to Edinburgh, Cardiff and Belfast is symbolic, as powers gravitate to the capital of smaller areas of the UK (although this can lead to unhappiness in areas of those countries which feel they are now ignored as power is simply concentrated in another city a long way away). In England, if you devolve power to somewhere else in London, there's not much symbolism there. If you devolved it to say Derby as the city which is probably closest to the geographic centre of England, Devon and Kent are unlikely to be delighted that there is a new centre of government much further away than the old one (actually not that much further in the case of Devon).

Devolved powers to regions would make more sense although you do then get into an argument about what constitutes a region. Using the currnet government definitions, does the SW really stretch from Penzance to Tewkesbury to Christchurch? Should North Lincolnshire be lumped in with Yorkshire? Why is Watford in the same region (East of England) as Norwich?

On the plus side however, if you did set up a regional parliament in Derby, then maybe a magic money tree would be found to improve the Crosscountry franchise as lots of MPs / ministers / civil servants need to travel there.

 

[peters]

1. Scotland, Wales and NI are a few million people each, so there is a sense of devolving power to a smaller group. England is 56 million out of a UK population of 68 million. Not much of a reduction.

Indeed. Scotland, Wales and NI are equivalent in size to one English region, not to England

Using the currnet government definitions, does the SW really stretch from Penzance to Tewkesbury to Christchurch? Should North Lincolnshire be lumped in with Yorkshire? Why is Watford in the same region (East of England) as Norwich?

Geographically West to East the South West covers a large area but only a small North to South area. However, with a population of 5.2 million it is small compared to the North West with a 7 million population.