Should we have a referendum regarding....

[View From The Top]

The Union?

 

No one dare ask us English if we'd like to be independent from the Celtic nations.

 

I think they should.

 

What say you all?

[aintforever]

It does take the ****, why do we always have to pander to the inferiority complexes of Wales and Scotland? We should at least have our own assembly.

 

I would vote for devolution, we would be way better off without having to bank roll **** holes like Glasgow.

[Thedelldays]

I would say so...Although I would hate to see the break up the UK as we know it..but why not..?

 

one good thing if the UK did break up and scotland was run by the SNP as they pledge to shutdown HMS Neptune (or the nuclear side of it) located outside glasgow

Edited 4 April, 2010 by Thedelldays

[BigShadow]

It always ****es me off that Scottish MPs get to vote on issues affecting only England, but English MP's get no say on votes in the Scottish Parliament. There should be an English Assembly just for the sake of consistency and fairness.

[Red&White]

I have a few Scots and Welsh as mates none of them want a split. Neither do I it would not be good for us as a nation.

There are a lot of people who twist the facts unfortunately.

[badgerx16]

Why not extend it to include the option of 'independence' for Cornwall, as a celtic outpost, or resurrect the historical early medieval Saxon and Danish kingdoms ? Why should the rest of England, particularly those parts more than 200 miles from London, be dominated by the South-East ?

 

Alternatively, and more realistically, why does everything have to be subject to 'balkanisation' ? Why try to over-emphasise local differences and play down common interests ? The more you try to partition things up, the more distrust and conflict arises.

We didn't have an English Empire, we had a British Empire. It is much better that the United Kingdom is a member of the EU, than four self interested and far smaller, ( and therefore less politically and economically significant ), regional identities. How many Olympic medals would each region get in isolation ? Together we amount to something, separately we are much diminished, especially ( ironically ) Scotland and Wales.

 

I am proud to be able to claim I am a Hampshire man, yet at the same time I am a Lancastrian. Even more so I am English and British, a citizen of Europe, and most importantly, a Human Being; part of a population of about 6 billion similar, unique, individuals who should be learning to get on better with each other.

[Red&White]

Why not extend it to include the option of 'independence' for Cornwall, as a celtic outpost, or resurrect the historical early medieval Saxon and Danish kingdoms ? Why should the rest of England, particularly those parts more than 200 miles from London, be dominated by the South-East ?

 

Alternatively, and more realistically, why does everything have to be subject to 'balkanisation' ? Why try to over-emphasise local differences and play down common interests ? The more you try to partition things up, the more distrust and conflict arises.

We didn't have an English Empire, we had a British Empire. It is much better that the United Kingdom is a member of the EU, than four self interested and far smaller, ( and therefore less politically and economically significant ), regional identities. How many Olympic medals would each region get in isolation ? Together we amount to something, separately we are much diminished, especially ( ironically ) Scotland and Wales.

 

I am proud to be able to claim I am a Hampshire man, yet at the same time I am a Lancastrian. Even more so I am English and British, a citizen of Europe, and most importantly, a Human Being; part of a population of about 6 billion similar, unique, individuals who should be learning to get on better with each other.

 

Hit the spot with that one :smt038:smt038:smt038

[Wes Tender]

I have a few Scots and Welsh as mates none of them want a split. Neither do I it would not be good for us as a nation.

There are a lot of people who twist the facts unfortunately.

 

The matter is a simple one. Many years ago, Tam Dalyell tabled what becamse known as The West Lothian Question. It is patently ridiculous that MPs representing Scottish and Welsh constituencies are able to vote in Parliament on matters affecting England, yet MPs representing English constituencies are not able to reciprocate in Scottish or Welsh matters.

 

It is a cause of massive resentment amongst the English electorate and until it is corrected, that resentment can only fester and grow.

 

As far as I'm concerned, we either return to the Union in its former guise and get rid of the Scottish Parliament and the Welsh assembly, or else we give parity to the English by disallowing Scottish and Welsh MPs to vote on English matters.

 

As it stands anyway, the number of Labour MPs representing Scottish and Welsh constituencies gives Labour its majority to govern us, so there is no particular incentive for a Labour government to introduce reforms. Perhaps the Conservatives and Lib Dems ought to call for a referendum on it. It is long overdue. Matters are not helped by the main ministerial posts being filled predominently by Scots too over the past few decades.

[Thedelldays]

 

As it stands anyway, the number of Labour MPs representing Scottish and Welsh constituencies gives Labour its majority to govern us, so there is no particular incentive for a Labour government to introduce reforms. Perhaps the Conservatives and Lib Dems ought to call for a referendum on it. It is long overdue. Matters are not helped by the main ministerial posts being filled predominently by Scots too over the past few decades.

surely....things like this are only reserved for the self promoting tory boys..?

[revolution saint]

Certainly deserves a referendum. I'm undecided about whether it's a good idea though.

 

To be honest I'd rather have a fully elected House of Lords.

[Wes Tender]

surely....things like this are only reserved for the self promoting tory boys..?

 

What are you on about? It is a simple matter of Parliamentary democracy. The English electorate are disenfranchised on matters affecting certain parts of the United Kingdom, whereas Scottish and Welsh voters are allowed to vote on matters affecting the Englsih.

 

Do you think that is fair? A simple yes or no will suffice.

[Thedelldays]

What are you on about? It is a simple matter of Parliamentary democracy. The English electorate are disenfranchised on matters affecting certain parts of the United Kingdom, whereas Scottish and Welsh voters are allowed to vote on matters affecting the Englsih.

 

Do you think that is fair? A simple yes or no will suffice.

no, of course not...I was saying, if the tories were allowing this to happen to helo their own cause they would be berated for "looking after their own so to speak"

[South City Si]

From a democratic point of view I agree with regionalisation. It also allows people to regain some regional identity without the right jumping on it.

It also makes a away we could organise a new elected House of Lords through regional representation.

[mack rill]

A referendum,,,,,,,,Nuke-em Yes or No simples,

 

A yes vote secures cooked lamb bone and Haggis all round;)

[Sergei Gotsmanov]

We in the South of England bankroll much of the UK and just cop grief from everyone else. Sadly if we did vote it would jsut be another meddling tier of bureacracy!

[benjii]

There are two issues here IMO:

 

Parliamentary/electoral anomolies - which should be sorted out.

 

Nationalism - which is weird and funny when it's jumped-up pip-squeek nations but dangerous when it's a big country.

[Lord Duckhunter]

We should have an English Parliament.Why should the English be treated differently than the rest of the UK?

[IamLeGod]

It is certainly an interesting question as the creation of the Scottish Parliament created a deomcratic deficit. Scottish MP's sitting in Westminister can vote on issues of health, education etc that do not effect their constituents as these issues fall under the jurisdiction of the Scottish Parliament. In effect, controversial Labour bills on health and education have in many cases been voted into law by MP's who have little interest in the matter other than pleasing the party Whips and furthering their own political career in Westminister.

 

This is certainly an issue that needs addressing, I personally am not a big believer in the breaking up of the UK as I don't believe it serves either side particularly well. However I do think that if it is genuinely what the Scot's want (again im not sure how much this is in fact the case) then they should be granted independence. I think this would be to their detriment. While it continues to be the case that we have a system of devolution of powers then I think the best solution is to not allow Scottish MP's to abstain from voting on issues that will not affect their constituents.

 

...for those interested this is known as the 'West Lothian Question'

[GenevaSaint]

The Union?

 

No one dare ask us English if we'd like to be independent from the Celtic nations.

 

I think they should.

 

What say you all?

 

A resounding yes.

[Johnny Bognor]

The Union?

 

No one dare ask us English if we'd like to be independent from the Celtic nations.

 

I think they should.

 

What say you all?

 

I wouldn't want the Union to disband, but I think the English should have representation.

 

Therefore, I would like the House of Commons to be replaced by an English parliament. Then the House of Lords could be replaced by a UK parliament. This would resolve the midlothian question, but keep the UK together.

 

For those that say this wouldn't work, we have local and national government, so why not local, regional and national too?

[TUS]

Can we build a **** off big wall across the middle of England and split it into North and South? Or maybe two walls, and ensure Birmingham is no mans land in the middle?

 

Actually why don't we all just follow Homer Simpsons lead and build a wall around our own properties, create our own country and self-govern? Get off my land!!

[Sour Mash]

Why not extend it to include the option of 'independence' for Cornwall, as a celtic outpost, or resurrect the historical early medieval Saxon and Danish kingdoms ? Why should the rest of England, particularly those parts more than 200 miles from London, be dominated by the South-East ?

 

Alternatively, and more realistically, why does everything have to be subject to 'balkanisation' ? Why try to over-emphasise local differences and play down common interests ? The more you try to partition things up, the more distrust and conflict arises.

We didn't have an English Empire, we had a British Empire. It is much better that the United Kingdom is a member of the EU, than four self interested and far smaller, ( and therefore less politically and economically significant ), regional identities. How many Olympic medals would each region get in isolation ? Together we amount to something, separately we are much diminished, especially ( ironically ) Scotland and Wales.

 

I am proud to be able to claim I am a Hampshire man, yet at the same time I am a Lancastrian. Even more so I am English and British, a citizen of Europe, and most importantly, a Human Being; part of a population of about 6 billion similar, unique, individuals who should be learning to get on better with each other.

 

Exactly. I hate this (fairly recent) rise in nationalism from those that class themselves as being 'English', 'Scottish' or 'Welsh'. I am English and British. We have far greter history together as one entity, than as seperate states. It was Great Britain that fought two world wars. It was a British Empire. The industrial revolution and all that went with it was intrinsically "British", not English/Welsh/Scottish etc.

 

Devolution is something that many clever politicians have played upon in recent years in order to secure themselves power and have used the easy and obvious divide to get themselves very comfy jobs, doing relatively little in return. Not so long ago a scottish tax payer would be paying to cover the costs associated with having a local MP and the local council etc. Now they still have to cover these costs, as well as everything that goes with the Scottish Parliament and having an MEP and all the expenses that goes with them.