Guy Lodge (London, ippr): OurKingdom is right to attach particular importance to the issue of England. The ‘English Question’, which has its roots in the unravelling of the historic conflation between Englishness and Britishness, has prompted the English to reflect on who they are and their position in the Union. The constitutional dimension – my ippr colleague Rick Muir has raised some of the social issues - has arisen due to the asymmetry of the devolution settlement, and it is this which is forcing the issue up the political agenda. Here opinion towards the Union is changing most dramatically, not in Scotland, where support for independence has barely altered in 20 years (hovering between 20-30%), but in England, where support for policies like an English Parliament has recently shot up: from around 20% between 1997-2004, to over 50% today (see Newsnight poll, pdf ). Some polls (opens in pdf) even suggest that a majority in England want Scotland to go it alone.
The polls may exaggerate the exact state of opinion but they give a sense of the all-important momentum. This is being galvanised by sections of the press and the Conservative Party who are beginning to play the ‘English card’, and those, not least Ken Livingstone, who object to the English ‘subsidy’ to fund Scotland’s policies. There is a sense of a stirring restlessness within England which will grow if devolution and spending anomalies persist, and which will need a response once Gordon Brown, a Scottish MP, becomes PM. Finger crossing within the political class that this issue will go away is no longer an option.
There are two ‘logical’ responses to enhancing the voice of England within the Union. ‘English votes on English laws’, which is fundamentally unworkable or an English Parliament which would create a totally lopsided federation, and which could ultimately jeopardise the Union itself. A less logical but workable approach would be to reduce the number of Scottish (and Welsh) MPs thereby reducing the salience of Scottish MPs carrying votes against an English majority. This could be accompanied by PR, which would enhance the representation of the Conservatives in Scotland and Wales and take some of the politics out of the English Question. The 'Barnett formula', which underpins the English fiscal subsidy, could also be replaced with a fairer funding system. Above all though, the best answer to the English Question would be to address the real grievance in England: the curse of overbearing centralism which undermines the way the English are governed. Gordon Brown, who claims to be a pluralist, could make this his cause for England, and a centrepiece of his promised new constitutional settlement.
