Disunited Kingdom - Devolution and English Votes

Those of us who thought a ‘No’ vote in Scotland would bring the constituent parts of the United Kingdom closer together have been proven wrong, with the disunity now almost as bad as it would have been for a ‘Yes’ win.

In Scotland the ‘Yes’ campaign has organised itself into a group called The 45, demanding international moderators to recount the referendum votes, because apparently Scotland is similar to Afghanistan, and a boycott of the companies who said they would leave Scotland in the event of independence.

The more sensible groups have joined together to demand Westminster follows through on more devolved powers, but they have hit a strange road-block, the English, who are now demanding more powers for England and an answer to the so-called West Lothian question.

For starters, the Westminster parties have to follow through with the pledge of more powers, but simultaneously The 45 have to let this process take its course and accept another independence vote cannot happen for at least a decade or two.

Secondly, this idea of English votes for English laws needs to be thought about very carefully, because, although it is a good idea, there are some major issues surrounding it which often go overlooked.

What is the West Lothian Question?

The West Lothian question is a term coined in 1977 to describe the problem of Scottish, Welsh and Northern Irish Westminster MPs voting with equal powers on English topics, while English MPs had less authority over issues in the other parts of the UK.

Since then there have been sustained calls for ideas like a separate English parliament or banning MPs from outside England voting on solely English issues.

So What’s the Problem?

Well unfortunately for the current party leaders there are lots of them, which is why this has never been truly sorted out.

There are three main options to solve the West Lothian question and the legislative and spending vacuum in England, but all have huge flaws.

Option One – English Parliament

The idea here is all four countries making up the UK would have their own separate parliament which would decide how to spend the money allocated by the central government, while Westminster would focus on federal issues like budgeting and national defence.

This would involve the formation of an English parliament, which would please people as it involves moving power away from Westminster and would mean English politicians would make decisions for the English.

However, this is where the good news stops.

For this to work all parliaments, including the Welsh and Northern Irish assemblies, would have to be equal in power, however, there are historical and political reasons why the Northern Irish Assembly is unlikely to get or ask for more powers, while the nationalist movement in Wales is far weaker than north or the border.

It also creates an executive in London, which means there will be two-tiered politicians leading to power struggles or circumvention of the voters if governments are struggling to pass measures.

The English parliament would also become the strongest, purely because of the numbers it represents, which undermines the point of the exercise, while it also leaves central government open to being ganged-up on by a collective of national representatives.

Another issue is what has already been seen in Scotland, where MSPs can promise whatever they like and if they fail to deliver or do not follow through at all, they can get away with blaming the evil Westminster establishment and this could easily happen in an English parliament as well.

Lastly, this creates more politicians, more bureaucracy, more salaries, more expenses, more in-fighting, all of the things the general public want politicians to move away from.

So while this idea fits the bill in terms of answering the West Lothian question and makes politics more local, it has some huge flaws which could make it less efficient, less democratic and less accountable.

Option 2 – English MPs for English Votes

This idea is less complicated and essentially would mean English MPs would meet one or two days a week to vote on issues affecting England without their colleagues from Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland.

Avoiding additional politicians, parliaments and in-fighting, while allowing varying devolved powers, this would seem like a good idea, but again it is fundamentally flawed.

Firstly, it creates disharmony at a time when Scotland has just voted to reject independence and unwittingly creates a two-tiered system of MPs where those from Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland would be second class.

This also means it would be unlikely a Welsh, Scottish or Northern Irish person would ever become Prime Minister or even a party leader.

Another issue all too rarely pointed out is there are actually very few issues put before Westminster which only effect the English, while this solution to the problem would make the process more inefficient by putting aside days for debates without the full house.

The fact is England has always been the centre of the union, with decisions made in Westminster emanating from England to the other member states, so in reality, while England does have its own government departments there are very few issues which only have an impact on the English.

There is also a huge political problem which makes this solution unlikely as it benefits the Conservatives and punishes Labour because Labour have MPs in Wales and Scotland, while the Tories have not.

This would mean it would be harder for a Labour party to pass laws relating to England, encouraging them to circumvent the Westminster executive, or allow the Conservatives to deliberately hold-up any Labour proposals and force through partisan measures when in power.

All in all, while this seems like a relatively good solution, politically it is unlikely to happen and, even if it did, just keeps power centrally which is not popular with the electorate, not to mention it discriminating against Welsh, Scottish and Northern Irish MPs with loftier ambitions.

Option 3 – Regional Devolution

A halfway house between options one and two is to devolve powers from Westminster to the regions of the UK, taking the form of county or regional assemblies or elected city mayors.

This idea certainly solves a few issues as it gives increased power over spending to local areas, without creating second class MPs, while allowing varying degrees of devolved powers to Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.

The question of what to do about Scottish, Welsh and Northern Irish MPs in Westminster voting on English matters still remains, but is certainly reduced as they would have no power over how the money is used, just how it is distributed.

However, the problem is the voters do not seem interested in this idea.

Elected mayors were proposed in a number of cities recently, but the desire for them from the electorate was muted at best.

Similarly, when elected police commissioners were introduced it resulted in the lowest ever turnout for a UK election.

There is an argument the failure of city mayors and regional police commissioners was because they were given no real power and the measures were only promoted by third rate politicians, but then again the London Assembly is a bit of a red herring, but this has not stopped Boris Johnson being an effective ambassador for the capital.

However, the biggest issue here is England already has this to some extent with local, parish, district and county councils, which have the power to raise and spend money as well as petition central government and local people about issues.

It is all well and good claiming England needs more representation, in fact it probably does, but the systems are already in place, but are simply not used properly.

What is the point in creating a brand-new parliament for England, or fiddling with the constitution over what MPs can vote on what bills, when councils are already in place to supposedly represent local people?

David Cameron and, more precisely, Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government Eric Pickles promoted at the last election something called ‘The Big Society’ where local administrations would take on more responsibility.

This idea is the very epitome of what the people are supposedly asking for and yet when the people are asked they do not turn out to have their voice heard.

Conclusions

What has to be accepted is there are two very separate issues here. First, devolved powers to the Scottish parliament and secondly, increased powers for England.

These two issues must be dealt with separately and on different timetables.

Scotland deserves more power over how money and resources are allocated in Scotland and this must be announced within the announced timetable, if not then the calls for independence will only get louder and more problematic.

MPs of all parties must work together to finalise what powers will be controlled by Holyrood for the benefit of a united kingdom.

However, England must wait for its future to be decided and so must the West Lothian question.

It makes far more sense for English devolution to form part of next year’s General Election campaign, rather than being rushed through in the heat of the moment during the highly politically charged time in the run-up to next May.

Why should England wait? Because this is a difficult topic to deal with.

As shown above, all three of the primary ideas have massive problems which need to be addressed, but these need to be dealt with in the respect of history and tradition.

England has always been the centre of the United Kingdom. This is not bloviating, it is a result of history and with this in mind, coupled with the party political stumbling blocks, makes curbing voting powers for non-English Westminster MPs difficult.

The historical background has meant laws and financing has emanated from England to the other countries of the union, meaning there are very few English-only issues put before parliament.

Another question is what do the English people actually want, because in the past regional powers have been on the table, but have not been accepted by the voters.

Rather than this haphazard cobbling together of a plan the Conservatives are undertaking, why should the English not have their own referendum tagged to the General Election ballot about what kind of regional devolved government they would like along with a proper discussion of the issues.

This is an important issue, both north and south of the border, but it cannot be solved in two minutes.

Scotland’s pro-independence movement must settle down and allow the dialogue to come up with a sensible plan within the timetable and the English should think hard about what exactly it is they want and accept it is not going to happen tomorrow.