The Liberal Democrats' Resolution of the England Question
The Lib Dems respond to my email to Nick Clegg.
Many thanks for contacting Nick Clegg. I'm replying to letters and emails on his behalf.
Liberal Democrats believe that Britain needs a constitution which would set out fundamental rights and the power and nature of the key institutions of government, which would require a special procedure to change. We would therefore involve the British people in producing this written constitution. We would give people the power to determine this constitution (setting out individual rights and limiting the power of the state) in a convention made up of members of the public and parliamentarians of all parties and none.
We recognise that devolution to Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland poses difficult questions for the governance of England within the Union. I think it’s important to be honest about the fact that it is difficult to find an immediate solution. The idea of ‘English votes for English laws’ is extremely complicated to implement – particularly because many laws actually extend to England only in some parts, while covering other parts of the UK in other areas. Given the fact that changes in spending on English services which would be devolved in the rest of the UK directly affect the devolved administration’s budgets, it is also often the case that ‘English’ legislation actually will affect devolved issues outside of England.
We believe that we can only really deal with this question by looking at it as part of the wider political system. We need to do more, first of all, to give more power to people locally in England – so that they, too, have more control over their own affairs rather than being micromanaged from Whitehall. We want to give local communities real power over their health services and policing, through fairly elected local health boards and police authorities – as well as freeing the hands of local councils, removing power from Westminster and Whitehall. Ultimately, we want to move towards a federal United Kingdom – devolving power within England further and thus resolving this question.
Thank you once again for contacting us.
Best wishes,
Bess Mayhew
Office of Nick Clegg
Leader of the Liberal Democrats
I wonder why they won't agree to letting England decide how it wishes to be governed. Perhaps the answer lies here.
A party that was truly liberal and democratic would agree to an English constitutional convention and referendum.
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Nick Clegg Charged with Considering the West Lothian Question
from Toque on Thu, 06/03/2010 - 10:29The BBC reports that Nick Clegg will be in charge of 'considering' the West Lothian Question.
He will also be in charge of considering the "West Lothian question" - the longstanding anomaly which sees Scottish MPs voting on matters affecting England, but
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"Ultimately, we want to move
"Ultimately, we want to move towards a federal United Kingdom – devolving power within England further and thus resolving this question"
Note the LibDem words carefully - "devolving power within England further". Not devolving power TO England, but within England.
Why can people not see, or choose not to see, that this 'Federal United Kingdom' is the 12 Regions of the UK as mapped out by the EU.
9 English regions, each eventually to have the same powers as Scotland, NI & Wales, (those 3 already having regional status), each with a Regional Minister in Westminster to give the appearance of UK sovereignty, but in reality controlled by the Committee of the Regions in Brussels.
That is what is meant by devolving power closer to the people as espoused by the LibDems, and regularly by Dan Hannan MEP because the Conservatives in the UK don't want it raised as an issue at election time. The regional NHS (9 English RHA's already in place) and Regional police forces (nearly in place with talk of mergers again on the table), 9 Regional Fire Service Commands (already in place), Regional TV & Radio (already in place), and to use the LibDems own words 'removing power from Westminster and Whitehall'.
At that point, currently estimated to be 2012, the UK will no longer have the power to negotiate to leave the EU, its powers having been devolved completely to the 12 regions. And a region alone could not negotiate to leave, as the original treaty was with the UK.
There never will be an English Parliament, there never will be a single voice for England alone, so long as we remain inside the EU.
The evidence is all around you, its there again in the LibDem response, you only have to see what is in front of you.
Ian Parker-Joseph - The Albion Alliance
http://albionalliance.org.uk/
How much of this position is
How much of this position is dictated by political realism? This statement confirms my view that the Lib Dems would be perfectly willing to exploit the West Lothian Question to give a Lab-Lib coalition an overall majority. Plenty of the recent opinion polls would see Labour as the largest party on the third-largest share of the vote, with the combined majority of Labour and the Lib Dems being dependent on their Scottish and Welsh MPs, and even on the SNP and Plaid in some instances. Even if they didn't actually require the votes of Labour's and the Lib Dems' non-English MPs to work this majority, the Lib Dems would doubtless acquiesce in the WLQ if it was a precondition of participating in a coalition with Labour.
Similarly, these plans for devolution within, rather than to, England are quite consistent with those of the Tories. A coalition with the Tories also wouldn't require the operation of the WLQ, rendering the Tories' 'solution' to it constitutionally harmless, as the party majorities among English and UK MPs as a whole would be the same. That would also allow UUP MPs to add their votes to the Tories' and Lib Dems' Scottish and Welsh MPs on English matters.
So one way or another, we're going to end up with a West Lothian Coalition.
"Ultimately, we want to move
"Ultimately, we want to move towards a federal United Kingdom – devolving power within England further and thus resolving this question."
Just another Lib-Dem who thinks that devolution and federalism are interchangeable.
The difference between the Lib-Dems "Federalism" and Labour's "Nations and regions" is only in the name.
The Lib-Dems plans for the constitution are like the Lib-Dems plans for renewing Trident.
Everyone thought that the Lib-Dems were against renewing Trident and nuclear weapons and the Lib-Dems were in no hurry to disabuse them of the notion but in their manifesto they want to keep nuclear weapons but with a cheaper delivery system - only they haven't thought of how to do it cheaper yet.
As for the constitution, everyone thought that the Lib-Dems were federalists until they found out that what they actually want is regional devolution for England - only they haven't thought of how to do it yet.
Never trust a Lib-Dem.