Why we need an English Parliament and Government

The Conservatives are promoting the idea that decisions that only affect England should be decided by only English MPs. This is superficially attractive, but has a major flaw. UK Government ministers are selected from MPs (and lords) representing constituencies in all countries of the UK. Under the Conservative idea, you could have ministers representing Scottish, Welsh or Norther Irish seats asking English MPs to vote for policies and budgets that they themselves cannot vote for. They may not, of course, get a majority of English MPs to vote for their proposals. There could be major conflict between what the full parliament and what the English subset would approve. This could lead to major constitutional problems.

We have had many Scottish and Welsh government ministers:

• Danny Alexander (Scot, First Secretary to the Treasury)
• Gordon Brown (Scot, Prime Minister and Chancellor)
• Alistair Darling (Scot, Chancellor)
• Alec Douglas-Home (Scot, Prime Minister)
• Bevan Aneurin (Nye) Bevan (Welsh, Health Minister)

Another alternative would be regional parliaments. However not all regions are well defined and not all of their inhabitants fully identify with them. Therefore the best solutions are an English Parliament with an English government reporting to it. The parliament and government should have the same powers as the Scottish assembly. The powers of the Welsh and Norther Irish assemblies should also be enhanced to match the Scottish Assembly.

Alan Macro
Councillor for Theale
West Berkshire Council
www.theale.org.uk

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