Crap excuse

[rong]

This is the stupid response to a government petition, I still want to know why the others should have what we (English) cannot.

Devolution has been designed to meet the varying demands of the people of the UK. The great virtue of the British Constitution is that it has for centuries, been able to accommodate difference and anomaly in order to meet the specific aspirations of the British people.

English constituency MPs currently total over 80% of Members in Parliament and they represent over 80% of the population of the UK. An English Parliament would turn the UK into a federal nation. History shows that where one country in a federation contains more than 30% of the economic wealth or population, the federation is unsustainable. England's dominance within the UK would make a federal UK unsustainable. There would be continued tension between the policies of the English Parliament and Government, and those of the federal Parliament and Government, with the English institutions determining most of the economic and social policies, including public expenditure, but the federal institutions responsible for defence, taxation and macro-economic policy.

The highest priority was given to the creation of a parliament in Scotland, and a national assembly in Wales, since the demand for decentralisation in these countries was long-standing. Indeed, proposals to create similar institutions were enacted in the late 1970's but failed to secure the necessary majorities in referendums. The existing devolution settlement introduced in 1997/98 was designed to meet varying needs, and enabled better local decision making, in response to local issues.

[catgate]

The great virtue of the British Constitution is that it has for centuries,

So how long have we had one? One that I could sit down and read.

In reality the great virtue of the British Constitution is that it can be made up on the spot by any politician to suit his purpose....Just like those statistic things.

[andsome]

What annoys me about the whole setup in Britain, is that there are certain things affecting only the Welsh and Scottish that English M.P's cannot vote on, because those decisions are to be made in the devolved parliaments, and yet the Scottish and Welsh M.P's can vote on these same issues when they affect England. This will soon be compounded when England will be subject to the whims of a Scot when he becomes P.M. Hence he will be able to enact legislation that may be to the detriment of English people, safe in the knowledge that he will not upset Welsh and Scottish people because those decisions will not affect those two countries. At least the Tories have plans to put a stop to this situation. See link.

HERE.

[catgate]

At least the Tories have plans to put a stop to this situation.

As far as I can see they only have one plan, and that is to get themselves into the deepest part of the trough by saying anything that will help them get there

[andsome]

At least the Tories have plans to put a stop to this situation.

As far as I can see they only have one plan, and that is to get themselves into the deepest part of the trough by saying anything that will help them get there

B'liar, Brown and their comrades went ahead with devolution and have done nothing to alleviate this problem, and from Rong's post would appear to be quite happy with the situation. We don't really know what Cameron would or wouldn't do until crunch time, but we know what this lot have done.

[rong]

I don't think that we should necessarily have devolved parliament, but that as the Scottish and Welsh have then we should, so that we are on the same level. I think that it is just another waste of our money.

[andsome]

The obvious solutions is to allow MORE decisions to be taken by the existing local councils, and NOT to starve them of money as this government has. That way we don't need devolved parliaments.