English Votes for ENGLAND’s Laws?

England Coat of Arms

The BBC and other types of state media continue to propagate the Conservative Government’s tawdry and misleading ‘English Votes for English Laws’ (EVEL) policy.  A more accurate name for this policy would be ‘English Votes for England’s Laws’ which would tend to draw attention to the difference between England and the English, but that would never do!

This deceitful and dishonest British Government contrives to blur the difference between those of us in England who regard our national identity as English and those who do not! Why on earth would a sane and properly informed English electorate want to elect individuals who subordinate England’s national interests to other national interests.

Cameron & Co do not want voters in England to be conscious that many of his ‘English votes’ will be cast by the likes of  Nigel Evans, Liam Fox, Michael Fallon, Michael Gove, James Gray, Ian Liddell-Grainger, Julian Lewis, Eleanor Laing, Pat McFadden, Iain Stewart and other carpetbaggers occupying parliamentary seats in England. Has anyone ever heard Diane Abbott or Keith Vaz or his sister Valerie Vaz publicly declare their national identity as English? What does Rory Stewart and Rehman Chishti and Yasmin Qureshi and David Lammy and Rushanara Ali and Chuka Umunna each regard as their national identity?

What about Alexander Boris de Pfeffel Johnson, with the Donald Trump type hairstyle, born in New York City, US passport holder and two part-time jobs with full-time salaries and emoluments; does he regard himself as English?

Regrettably, the deceit does not stop there! Apparently, the ‘English Votes’ bit only applies to the First Reading of England’s Bills. In all succeeding stages (readings) it will be the usual free-for-all in which MPs from the rest of the UK can be involved. Scottish National Party MPs have already complained about being excluded at all and about the process proposed for excluding them.

Uniquely, England’s domestic draft legislation is passed to the Lords for scrutiny and amendment, and the Lords is replete with Scottish, Irish, Welsh and other peers. Indeed, given the unusually large number of redundant ex-Labour MPs from Scotland, we can expect an influx of even more.

Even David Cameron, wanting to appear all things to all men (and women!), is shy of publicly declaring what he regards as his national identity. His numerous comments about Scotland [“being at the heart” of his policies] and Scottishness [“There’s Scottish blood flowing through my veins”] may reasonably be regarded as denoting his distinct leaning in that direction, especially in the absence of any commensurate utterances about England and Englishness!

Those who have the interests, the welfare of England at heart would do well to ponder who should be our elected representatives! After all, there is now a considerable body of evidence that we (who provide the lion’s share of UK’s wealth and resources) are being short-changed! I challenge anyone to cite any matters in which England and the English have been and are treated more favourably than British citizens in the rest of the UK. Experience in recent decades demonstrates that England and the English will not be treated equally or fairly by those in power over us who have other national identities. The Blair and Brown governments and now Cameron’s have denied England national self-determination to extent given to the rest of the UK.

With 59 MPs plus 129 MSPs, Scotland has the equivalent of more than1,300 MPs, but Cameron wants to reduce the 533 MPs in England by 40 or more! Scotland enjoys an ongoing annual budget of £29 Billion. A commensurate budget for England would be £300 Billion per annum, but the Tories are fobbing us off with £30 Billion here and £20 Billion there without any indication of continuity and with the rest of the UK interfering in our affairs. 

Current developments in which men are excluded from short-lists diminish democracy. Proposals to introduce other categories of short-lists will further diminish democracy. Aside from this, we may presently vote for whomsoever we wish. It is not ‘racist’ to vote for candidates whom the English regard as representing us and our interests. 

I leave readers with two other thoughts: 

1. If those in the majority are deemed not to represent so called ‘minorities’, electing such ‘minorities’ simply because they are different will not improve political representation, especially if they do not regard themselves as having English identity. 

2. There are two elements to public life;  

(a.) To ACT correctly and properly;  

(b.) To be SEEN to act correctly and properly. Anyone likely to fail the Mandy-Rice Davies Test is likely to fall short of (b.) and not be seen to act properly. 

Those named above are elected to represent constituents in England. To the extent that they treat us less favourably as a nation than the rest of the UK, they will not have acted properly nor, I suggest, be seen to act properly. The British Parliament is corrupt and is in desperate need of cleansing.