Gareth Young (Lewes, CEP): In Jack Straw’s latest salvo against the Conservative’s policy of English Votes on English Matters (Living with West Lothian, Prospect Magazine, October 07) he generously warns the Conservatives against Little England-ism and a slide into "narrow English nationalism". The inference being that an English parliament comprised of Westminster MPs without an English executive is somehow a narrower more introspective form of nationalism than Scottish Labour’s Scottish Parliament and Government (nee Executive).
Thankfully though Living with West Lothian spares us the abuse that Jack has previously levelled at English nationalists; this new salvo is more an offensive against Conservative plans than it is against English desire for Home Rule. It’s not the first time that Jack has publicly trounced English Votes on English Matters, and with the Democracy Task Force due to report on the West Lothian Question one has to wonder whether this latest offensive is a pre-emptive strike in the battle to come. In the red corner we have a Labour Party that draws much of its Westminster majority <!--more-->and frontbench talent from Scotland and Wales, thanks to a constitution gerrymandered against England. And in the blue corner we have the Tories, equally determined to gerrymander it back the other way to secure Conservative hegemony over matters English in the UK Parliament. Neither party, I would contend, is remotely concerned with doing what is best for England, for England’s sake. There is the false and naïve assumption by both that there is little or no distinction between what is best for England and what is best for the UK, an assumption damaging to both England and the UK. This is a party-political dog-fight, it is not about good governance for England, and neither is it about giving political expression to England’s feeling of nationality.
For the large part Jack’s arguments are not arguments against English self-governance: they are arguments against the diminution of Westminster authority; they are arguments to preserve the absolute sovereignty of the Crown in Parliament, and; they are arguments to support the continued treatment of England as the rump of the UK parliament, with Scotland and Wales as semi-autonomous appendages to England. This is not a Union of Nations, it is the unionist’s view of England and the UK as one as the same, indivisible from one another culturally, politically and constitutionally. The Conservatives are no better. For them England matters for one reason and that reason is political control. To accuse them of narrow English nationalism is laughable.
Both sides need to step back from their entrenched positions, to look again at what it means to be a ‘Union of Nations’. A holistic approach, with a new understanding of what sovereignty means, is what is required in order to save the Union (not from Scottish or English nationalists but from the Labour and Conservative parties). Fairness dictates that each nation – not just Scotland - has the right to decide the form of government best suited to its needs, however unpalatable that may be to Westminster's present incumbents. Equally important is the recognition that it is with the people of each nation that sovereignty rests, to be exercised through their own national institutions and ceded upwards (rather than assumed by as it is now) to the governing institutions of the United Kingdom. There is no going back on the Scottish Claim of [sovereign] Right that was agreed to by Gordon Brown, Menzies Campbell, Alistair Darling, John Reid and Charles Kennedy amongst others.
The decision lies with the people, not with the Democracy Task Force, and most certainly not with Jack Straw. The English Question (which given the nature of the UK constitution is also the British Question) is a question that has to be answered, and only the people of England can answer it.
A slimmed down populist version of Jack Straw's Prospect article is available in yesterday's Telegraph.
Comments
Gareth Young writes:
"Equally important is the recognition that it is with the people of each nation that sovereignty rests, to be exercised through their own national institutions and ceded upwards (rather than assumed by as it is now) to the governing institutions of the United Kingdom"
Very true and often overlooked or ignored by our governments.
The Unrepresented Nations and Peoples article on self determination: http://www.unpo.org/article.php?id=4957
[...] - (2 of 5)THE WHISHART STANDARD: 119 Years of Lies and Deception by the Labour Party - (0 of 0)Both parties must look again at what it means to be a Union - (1 of 7)What will Brown be doing for Scotland? - (1 of 2)Democracy and deckchairs - (1 of 47)First Minister [...]
[...] I’ve been championing Open Democracy’s ‘Our Kingdom’ for a while so I’m delighted to note that it has charted at number 51 in Iain Dale’s Top 500 UK Political Blogs Chart. And it’s to the constitutional quagmire that is Our Kingdom that I’ve added my muddy footprints. Please pop over and read. [...]
They were the biggest party in Scotland at the time of the SCC and the devolution settlement, and it was a Scot heavy UK government that got it through Westminster.
Devolution to Scotland was one of Blair's 'acheivements', part of his legacy no less.
[...] ~FallenAngel~ wrote an interesting post today!.Here’s a quick excerptNeither party, I would contend, is remotely concerned with doing what is best for England, for England’s sake. There is the false and naïve assumption by both that there is little or no distinction between what is best for England and … [...]
Gareth you write: "The inference being that an English parliament comprised of Westminster MPs without an English executive is somehow a narrower more introspective form of nationalism than Scottish Labour’s Scottish Parliament and Government (nee Executive)."
Yikes. How is it 'Scottish Labour's Scottish Parliament and Govt'? - talk about introspective. Labour neither wanted it nor run it.
[...] I respond over at Our Kingdom. [...]
I'm afraid that "narrow English nationalism" is the only way forward for the Conservative Party, where is their vote in Scotland, in Wales and in Northern Ireland?
Dave has gone as far as saying that EVoEL will be in his manifesto for the next GE, it's not enough but is a step in the right direction.
Surely his researchers and "Democracy" Task Force can see that if they were to promise a referendum on an English Parliament in their manifesto they would almost certainly form the next government. Forget the "Union" it's already gone.
Moderator: Thanks Little Man!
Also: A comment on this went into our spam filter, it was de-spamed but wordpress seems to have lost it, it’s been vaporised, please re-post, apologies to whoever it was, please re-post if you can.
"England is also entitled to its own cultural and political identity. The cultural identity of the English has been submerged by a history of dominating the United Kingdom and the world, such that the common people of England have been persuaded that in return for status as subjects of a King or Queen-Emperor, they somehow shared the glory of that Empire. In fact England, like Scotland and Wales is the colony that never secured its own liberation from that monarchical power." - Tony Benn
Prior to the West Lothian Question, there was the Tryweryn Question. For more see seren's's blog.
A reduction in the number of Welsh MPs is essential and should pay for an increase in the number of AMs so that they can better scrutinise the Welsh Assembly Govt.
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