Labour’s selfish priorities laid bare for all to see

Far better to have a two-tier United Kingdom that includes a second class country than a two-tier Parliamentary chamber that includes second class MPs.

That’s Labour’s thrust in its opposition to the notion of MPs from English constituencies possibly being able to block legislation that only affects England, which would have been progressed through the Commons because of the party whipped votes of Scottish, Welsh and Northern Irish MPs.  The Independent has gratefully palmed the proffered crumbs from the establishment table and is running with the story.

Labour says the coalition idea that only English MPs could have the final say in approving or rejecting legislation on matters that only affect England, is ‘hare-brained’.  They are right, but for the wrong reason.

It isn’t hare-brained because it marginalises and creates a lower tier of Scottish, Welsh and Northern Irish MPs, who would not be able to impose laws on England that won’t apply in their own countries.  Boo hoo.  It is hare-brained because it continues to deny the English people – uniquely among western ‘democratic’ countries – their own national Parliament and the same level of self determination as that enjoyed by the other UK countries.

This Tory-Limp Dum plan tells the English they must remain second class citizens within the United Kingdom. It says the Scots, Welsh and Northern Irish people will continue to have more control over affairs in their countries – in competences such as education, the NHS, transport or environment – than the English have in England.  It says the other parts of the Union can have power that is denied to the English.

These are not the reasons Labour are opposed to the ‘hare-brained’ idea, their only concern is that their party whips would lose a substantial number of votes in the lobby on English only matters, because 67 of their MPs are from north of the border or west of Offa’s Dyke.  It is self serving party maintenance of the worst order.

Why anyone in England would vote for such a rancid collection of bile-infused troughers remains a mystery.  Hopefully this will help some of those voters see Labour for the mendacious and bitter collective of grubbing  entitlement that it is.

England must have its own Parliament. That is the only acceptable solution to the West Lothian Question.

In a democracy decision making power should be delegated to the lowest possible level, as close to the people as can be achieved.  An English Parliament has a place in such a structure.  We just need real democracy in this country in which such a Parliament could function according to the will of the people…

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Happy St. George’s Day

The very best of English to you all!

Big Society Bank will plunder English money to fund UK activity

Back in July last year the always enjoyable patriotic Englishman Toque explained for the sake of clarity to his readers that Banque Camoron the Big Society Bank is an England-only scheme as only dormant English bank accounts will be robbed by the government to part capitalise the new gimmick.

In February this year Toque highlighted that in a speech on the subject David Cameron was failing to make clear only English bank accounts would be raided to fund the Big Society Bank.

There has been no explanation as to why dormant accounts in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland will be left untouched by this outrageous and intrusive sequestration of funds.  Like most people, Toque had been labouring under the assumption that only English bank accounts are being plundered because the Big Society Bank will only fund English based projects.  But then he saw a comment made by Francis Maude in the House of Commons saying that:

…money put in by the banks will be for UK purposes, but the money coming into the big society bank in due course from dormant bank accounts will be for England only, unless the devolved Administrations decide to put their share of that money into the big society bank,

However a Parliamentary Written Answer published on Thursday doesn’t say that. In fact despite there being an ample opportunity to give a detailed response the answer gives the impression that as with so many pledges the government might be in the process of moving the goal posts.

When asked by Jonathan Edwards MP what arrangements the Minister for the Cabinet Office plans to put in place to fund the big society bank; and whether he expects there to be any differences in the operation of the bank in each nation or region, the Minister for Civil Society (yes, I know) Nick Hurd MP explained (my emphasis):

The Government have committed to using 100% of dormant accounts funds available for spending in England to set up the big society bank. In addition, four of the UK’s main banks have agreed to support the establishment of the bank with the injection, on a commercial basis, of £200 million of capital over two years, commencing in 2011.

We expect that the independent big society bank will have the ability to operate across the UK.

There is no sign of Maude’s caveat.  Not content with the English taxpayer being ripped off by the Barnett Formula of funding in the other home nations, we could now be seeing the Conservative-Lib Dem government taking money from English bank account holders and using it to fund Big Society initiatives outside of England after all.

No matter what happens, the message to the English from the Con-Lib coalition seems to be the same as the one from the last Labour government, shut up and pay up.

England’s lost World Cup bid is our gain

In November this humble blog commented about how David Cameron was to launch a last-ditch personal attempt to breathe fresh life into England’s faltering bid to host the 2018 World Cup, saying:

Oh well, that just about kills off the England bid.

This afternoon, despite Cameron’s shuttle trips between London and Zurich and the intense lobbying of the English bid team including Prince William, David Beckham and Lord Coe, that prediction became reality and FIFA rejected the England bid. Embarrassingly the bid was eliminated in the first round of voting by FIFA’s Executive Committee, placing England’s technically superior offering behind both the Netherlands-Belgium and Spain-Portugal bids.  In the end FIFA awarded the 2018 World Cup to Russia.

Despite Cameron rubbing shoulders with Goldenballs Beckham, he clearly lacks the golden touch when it comes to assignments in continental Europe. Each time he goes there he returns with either a) nothing, or b) a demand for huge sums of our money. But in fairness responsibility for this failure – if you think of it as one – rests somewhere other than Cameron’s door.

There were some powerful agendas at play in Zurich. FIFA’s quasi-monarchial President, Sepp Blatter, had made clear he preferred Russia as the venue because it would bring football’s money generating machine to a new untapped market and supposedly reach a new audience.

When Blatter wants something it generally results in a number of Exec Committee members voting to give it to him. This was probably the major factor in the voting outcome. But a contributing factor without any doubt was the BBC’s decision to screen their ‘investigation’ into corruption at the top levels of FIFA just days before the vote. Reports suggests Blatter reminded the committee of the negative BBC coverage and also that press clippings of other media criticisms and accusations concerning FIFA were helpfully circulated around the delegates earlier today.

It has been hilarious and cringeworthy in equal measure listening to the BBC media pack squirming over the last 48 hours as they tried to convince TV and radio audiences that despite the Panorama special, England’s bid had suddenly developed momentum.  The BBC narrative switched to self preservation mode, saying the bid was in the ascendency and that it was the only show in town with the Royal, the politician and the superstar pressing the flesh and winning the necessary support. But only the most deluded moron could believe that the intentionally provocative insult hurled at FIFA by the arrogant BBC (no matter how accurate the Panorama investigation might have been) would be glossed over by some of the most egotistical and allegedly corrupt delegates on the face of the planet.

The BBC has shown itself time and again to be contemptuous of its home country. It never passes up an opportunity to denigrate England, Britain or the UK as per the default position of such illiberal self loathing personae. In doing so again this week the BBC has scored a spectacular own goal. Millions of football fans who wanted the tournament hosted here will now link the Panorama programme with the failure of the bid, and the BBC will attract the deserved contempt of those people it has long sneered at. This outcome can only be benefical because more people will come to see the BBC for the insipid entity it is.

Another benefit for England is the removal of financial commitments that come with hosting the World Cup. The bid would have wasted money developing Home Park in Plymouth to seat over 40,000 people when the average attendance of Argyle’s games there is little over 5,000. Milton Keynes would also have had to be further developed to produce facilities that far exceed what the city’s team will ever need.  So although we have lost the bid, in the long run we will be better off, saving a significant amount of taxpayers’ money – and having the BBC show itself up as a spiteful corporation to people who normally wouldn’t realise or be interested in knowing. Eyes will have been opened tonight.

Amusingly the kneejerking has already begun, with Labour demanding an inquiry into the bid failure, and BBC journalists such as Peter Allen on Five Live suggesting the Russians might have engineered a stitch up before the vote and knew they had the outcome in the bag, which was why Vladimir Putin had stayed away.

As for FIFA’s choice, good luck to Russia’s World Cup organisers. They will need it. With the extent of corruption, terrorism and organised crime in that country they will have their work cut out delivering this tournament safely, making money and attracting overseas visitors to the games. It seems Russia and FIFA deserve each other and fate has finally united them.

Lord Triesman continues Labour’s tradition of undermining England

As a football supporter I was mildly optimistic that England’s bid to host the 2018 World Cup could prove successful.  But then, I hadn’t reckoned on Labour Peer, Baron Triesman of Tottenham in the London Borough of Haringey.  The communist leaning Lord has maintained Labour’s tradition of undermining England, by making the kind of unsubstantiated wild assertions you might expect in a Labour election leaflet but not from a supposedly independent Chairman of the Football Association.

England’s chances of winning the right to host the 2018 World Cup have likely been damaged as a result of Lord Triesman’s arrogance and lack of discretion.  How ironic that a member of the most corrupt political party of the modern age should be undone by accusing rival bidders of corruption.  It can’t have been the first time he has run off at the mouth, seeing as the person with whom Triesman was speaking was equipped with recording equipment.  Clearly they expected him to say something controversial.

A thought for St George’s Day

A very Happy St George’s Day to all English folk!  Today is a good day to spare a thought for England.

England suffers from the worst democratic deficit in Europe because it is the only country without its own legislative body.  England is a country many of whose laws are enacted in part by people from other countries, to whom those laws will not apply.  England is a country whose identity is being eroded, as bureaucrats attempt to turn it into a collection of regions.  Even the identity of the English Channel stands to be changed in an effort to suit the interests of the EU.

But a poll released today shows that English people are becoming increasingly conscious of these inequalities.  As devolution has handed a degree of autonomy to Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, the people of their larger poor relation are starting to call for equal treatment within the United Kingdom.

The only fair outcome is the creation of an English Parliament and proper democratic accountability on matters that apply solely to England.  If you believe in democracy and equality please support the Campaign for an English Parliament this St George’s Day.  And if you have your own blog, why not show your support for England by joining the English Free Press too?

The England conspiracy

Blogosphere exclusive:  John Inverdale, the BBC presenter fronting the Scotland v England Six Nations Rugby today, said a few moments ago on BBC1 that Christine Bleakley successfully managed to water-ski ‘across the whole of the British Channel’ yesterday.

Inverdale is an excellent presenter and I know he was ad-libbing rather than reading from a script, but come on.  He’s at an England rugby match for crying out loud!

Seeing as the comment was made live in Edinburgh, perhaps conspiracy theorists will discover dark Scottish forces at work and learn that this was really a subliminal part of Gordon Brown’s big ‘Britishness’ campaign…

Joking aside, England still suffers from a disgraceful and unacceptable democratic deficit.  Laws that only apply to England are made and voted through by MPs from Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.  The other three countries have their own devolved assemblies and parliaments to legislate on their domestic issues.  It is only right that England should have its own Parliament to determine matters that only concern the English.