Posted on 28 July 2009 by David
Introduction: Deliberations on British-constitutional reform must factor in the national questions
I recently signed up to ‘Real Change‘. This is a grassroots movement that aims to set in motion a nationwide debate, at local level, about fundamental constitutional reform, culminating ultimately in a citizens’ convention to collate and deliberate on all the options, and to come [...]
Filed under: Britain, British parliament, England, English Grand Committee, English Parliament, English governance, English nationhood, Gordon Brown, MPs, MPs' expenses, New Labour, Real Change, Scottish Claim of Right, Scottish independence, Scottish nationhood, UK governance, United Kingdom, West Lothian Question, asymmetric devolution, constitutional convention, constitutional reform, democracy, denial of England, devolution, national identity, nations and regions, parliament, parliamentary sovereignty, politics, popular sovereignty, representative democracy, republicanism, sovereignty, the English Question, unionism | 3 Comments »
Posted on 17 June 2009 by David
The eagerness of the main unionist parties to seize on the Calman Commission’s report on Scottish devolution, published on Monday, suggests how little they are interested in factoring the English Question into their constitutional-renewal programmes. The report offers nothing for England: it deliberately avoids addressing the West Lothian Question; it urges that the Barnett Formula [...]
Filed under: Barnett Formula, British parliament, Calman Commission, Conservative Party, England, English governance, Scotland, Scottish Parliament, United Kingdom, Wales, West Lothian Question, asymmetric devolution, constitutional reform, devolution, parliament, politics, sovereignty, the English Question | Leave a Comment »
Posted on 2 June 2009 by David
Never thought I’d say that! I don’t consider myself to be politically right-wing and I’m certainly not a Unionist; so UKIP is far from being a natural political home for me. I don’t like UKIP’s simplistic, black-and-white presentation of the case against the EU and open immigration policies, even though I myself am in favour [...]
Filed under: Britain, Conservative Party, David Cameron, EU, EU constitution, England, English Parliament, English governance, English nationalism, English pauses for English clauses, European Parliament, First Past the Post, Labour Party, Liberal Democrats, Lisbon Treaty, MPs' expenses, PR, UK governance, United Kingdom, West Lothian Question, constitutional reform, devolution, federal UK, federalism, monarchy, nationalism, parliament, politics, proportional representation, referendum, representative democracy, sovereignty, the English Question, unionism | 9 Comments »
Posted on 21 May 2009 by David
Over the past week or so, I’ve been attempting to write a rather long post on the implications of the ongoing MPs’ expenses scandal. I started to write it last week, when I was concerned that the initial reaction was tending to ignore the fact that public outrage about MPs’ behaviour was symptomatic of a [...]
Filed under: Britain, British parliament, Campaign for an English Parliament (CEP), Conservative Party, Cornwall, David Cameron, England, English Parliament, English governance, English identity, English nationhood, First Past the Post, Liberal Democrats, MPs' expenses, New Labour, Norman Tebbit, PR, UK governance, United Kingdom, West Lothian Question, accountability, constitutional reform, devolution, federal UK, federalism, parliament, petitions, politics, proportional representation, representative democracy, the English Question, unionism | 7 Comments »
Posted on 20 March 2009 by David
One of the objections that is often raised to an English Parliament is that it would add a whole new large body of MEPs, as I suppose we’d have to call them (unfortunate clash with the European Parliament), on top of the existing 530-odd (or however many) Westminster MPs representing English constituencies. To say nothing [...]
Filed under: England, English Parliament, English governance, First Past the Post, PR, Single Transferable Vote (STV), UK governance, United Kingdom, West Lothian Question, constitutional reform, devolution, federal UK, federalism, parliament, parliamentary sovereignty, politics, popular sovereignty, proportional representation, representative democracy, sovereignty, the English Question | 10 Comments »
Posted on 2 December 2008 by David
The trouble with the UK is ‘Great Britain’. The future of the UK, if it has one, will be settled by coming to a more stable, mature and equitable relationship between the different nations that currently make up that state. Great Britain, and its even more ill-defined cognate ‘Britain’, is the great interloper that stands [...]
Filed under: Britain, British identity, Britishness, Cornwall, England, English Parliament, English governance, English identity, English independence, English nationalism, English nationhood, Englishness, First Past the Post, Gordon Brown, Great Britain, New Labour, Northern Ireland, PR, Scotland, Scottish Claim of Right, Scottish independence, Scottish nationhood, Single Transferable Vote (STV), UK governance, United Kingdom, Wales, West Lothian Question, constitutional reform, denial of England, devolution, federal UK, federalism, national identity, nationalism, parliament, parliamentary sovereignty, political vision, politics, popular sovereignty, proportional representation, referendum, representative democracy, say England, sovereignty, the English Question, unionism | 23 Comments »
Posted on 4 September 2008 by David
‘Nation of England’! Now there’s a phrase to stir the blood or – for some – to make it boil. ‘Nation of England’: sounds rather un-English, doesn’t it? We English are not given to aggressive displays of ‘national pride’ and self-assertion. It sounds like the demand of some rebellious ethnic minority to be respected and [...]
Filed under: Britain, British identity, Calman Commission, Campaign for an English Parliament (CEP), England, English Parliament, English identity, United Kingdom, West Lothian Question, constitutional reform, devolution, national identity, nationalism, parliament, parliamentary sovereignty, politics, popular sovereignty, sovereignty, the English Question | 6 Comments »
Posted on 24 July 2008 by David
The Tories look set to establish their own version of the West Lothian Question in the next Westminster parliament. News reports today suggest that David Cameron is trying to forge an alliance or merger with the Ulster Unionist Party (UUP), with which it was connected in the past. The advantages of this are described in [...]
Filed under: Conservative Party, David Cameron, Democracy Task Force, England, First Past the Post, Northern Ireland, Ulster Unionist Party, United Kingdom, West Lothian Question, gerrymandering, parliament, politics, unionism | Leave a Comment »
Posted on 2 July 2008 by David
Yesterday, the Tories finally published the recommendations of their Democracy Task Force on how to ‘resolve’ the West Lothian Question. Their report contained no surprises, as it was virtually as leaked two weeks ago. There was, however, one clarification. In the leaked account of the Tories’ proposals, it was stated that: “At the third and [...]
Filed under: Conservative Party, Democracy Task Force, England, English Grand Committee, English Parliament, English pauses for English clauses, First Past the Post, PR, West Lothian Question, constitutional reform, devolution, federal UK, parliament, politics, proportional representation | Tagged: " | 1 Comment »
Posted on 10 June 2008 by David
Yesterday, the Daily Telegraph leaked news about the Conservatives’ supposed answer to the West Lothian Question: the fact that Scottish- (and Welsh- and Northern Irish-) elected MPs can vote on legislation affecting England only whereas MPs for English constituencies can no longer do the same for much of the corresponding legislation for Scotland, Wales and [...]
Filed under: Britain, Conservative Party, England, English Grand Committee, English Parliament, English pauses for English clauses, United Kingdom, West Lothian Question, devolution, federal UK, parliament, politics, the English Question | 6 Comments »