I am a lesser citizen than many people in the UK. I have fewer rights and less control over my future.
This is not because of the Tory majority government elected with about 25% of the popular vote, nor because of the one party state I live in which is dominated by Tory place people with little interest in my local community - although both of these continue to rankle. Nonetheless, both these facts are down to our democracy which, imperfect though it may be, must be respected.
No, the reason I am worth less than other people in the UK is because they get to elect their national (or regional in the case of Northern Ireland) representatives. In England I am apparently not good enough for this.
'But wait', the cry goes up, 'there is a plan to devolve power to English cities!' 'Hurrah', cry the denizens of these fine cities. 'Boo', cry those of us living in all the other parts of England which aren't cities, which is quite a lot.
'Aha, but the government plans to introduce 'English votes for English laws'! 'Yay!' cry the Parliamentary authorities, delighted at the additional overtime in prospect. 'Huh?' shrug the rest of us, utterly confounded at how on Earth this could be implemented given that funding for a plethora of things across the UK is dependent on decisions taken over English services.
What a ludicrous, senseless mess this is, apparently dreamt up in an attempt to stop anyone having any real democracy - for how could our tiny brains cope with such freedoms?!
Accepting that the current system is a complete mess and that the UK is creaking at the seams, someone has to do something radical. The tragedy is that everyone is looking at the numbers for the next contest in one year or five year's time and not really looking to the next couple of hundred years, a situation which is frankly disgraceful and which should cause any MP with an ounce of decency to hang their head in shame.
Rule one of government is to protect the state and the people. The current crop of politicians are simply not doing this. Through their bickering, they are contributing to the break up of the country.
Away from the venal politics in Westminster, everyone seems to have a view. I claim no special insight but this is my idea to save the UK from stupid nationalists and narrow Tory and Labour apparatchiks.
The answer may be to turn things on their head, looking up, not down.
If England was treated the same as Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland and got its own Parliament that would be a start. English MPs could be elected by constituencies, as they are now. If Wales was to get the fair funding it should have under a properly balanced system that might stop the grumbling across the Severn. If Northern Ireland had the same status as the other parts of the UK, politicians there might continue their efforts to do their jobs instead of reverting to the dangerous bickering of old.
For those worried about smaller elements of the UK being discriminated against, the answer is a second chamber chosen from the constituent parts of the UK, with each equally represented there. Squealing nationalists might reflect that such a model actually discriminates against England.
Where we could really change the debate and improve governance could be at the UK - not the national - level.
At present I didn't elect the Prime Minister. I live in his constituency but I didn't vote for him - and neither did more than 99% of the population of the UK. People talk a lot about proportional representation and it would certainly be infinitely more democratic but perhaps the focus for the main PR debate is in the wrong place.
How much more legitimate could our government be if it was elected in a UK-wide election? If we elected, say, 200 MPs across the UK on a national list system (one for England, one for Wales, etc) and the leading party - or parties - then formed a government, the government of the day could genuinely say it represented the views of the most people.
This would not necessarily be a majority but it would be a whole heap more than the Prime Minister got and far more votes than the current government received earlier this month. In the interests of balance - and the coalition aside, since that government had 55% of the popular vote - this damning statistic would apply to all but one of the post-War governments.
With a proportional government at the top, the constituent parts of the UK - Wales, England, Northern Ireland, London and Scotland - could choose whatever system they liked. It would be up to them.
Imagine: a pared down federal government overseen by a second chamber reflecting the views of the five elements of the UK and competing power centres in London, Cardiff, Belfast, Edinburgh and wherever the English Parliament decided to base itself. It's fantasy, isn't it.
A nice dream.
PS: London should be considered apart from England. It has always been different, it is bigger than Scotland and Wales put together, it skews the English economy towards it and it has distinct interests which, if properly addressed, benefit the whole of the UK.
No comments:
Post a Comment