Should the English have their own assembly?

The Scots, Irish and Welsh MP's can all vote on English-only issues. This was highlighted by Scottish MP's voting for top-up fees in another thread, apparently the bill wouldn't have passed if the Scots had abstained.

With this in mind, do the English need their own assembly for English only issues? With Parliament relegated to issues affecting the entire country and the prescribing of budgets?

Treating it as proxy-independance would be a mistake, (i.e. if the countries are effectively separating, that needs to be completely clear), but it does make sense that the English have a devolved assembly.

Hell even Wales has one, and they're legally much less independant than Scotland is, relative to England (England actually does own Wales, in a way that it does not with Scotland and Northern Ireland).

I wouldn't mind the three parting ways. I'd be a bit upset ofc, but I can understand why. As long as the SNP withers on the vine after this I will be very VERY happy.

Well, I don't want the Union to break up and I also find Alex Salmond's face to be so very punchable. Are the two related? Probably.

Anyway, I think the addition of yet another Parliament would exacerbate the nationalist situation. I'd be happy with Scottish and Welsh MPs simply not being able to vote on issues which affect England but not Scotland or Wales.

edited 14th Nov '10 2:33:28 PM by pagad

^This would make more sense.

edited 14th Nov '10 2:37:45 PM by GameChainsaw

It's not just that its punchable, but I tend to dislike nationalists of all stripes, especially when organised into political parties.

I feel the same.

For those late to the party, we call this the West Lothian question.

Yeah but if you do, you run the risk of further splitting up the union. You'll just have to live with it.

I don't think we particularly need one (but then I'm no expert on politics), but honestly, it does get kind of annoying that no-one ever seems to consider that England is a country in the union just like the others, and if the others get their own assembly in addition to the joint government, then by all logic England ought to too.

The Prescott plan was to take the regional assemblies and make them elected assemblies. Which means that England... wouldn't have gotten its own assembly, it would have gotten several for different parts of the country, their powers wouldn't have been equivalent and nobody liked them.

The CEP offers some useful FAQs on the subject.

Edit: They are, of course, presented from a pro standpoint.

edited 17th Nov '10 11:02:12 AM by Michael

To be honest this just makes me more angry when the nationalist parties whinge about apparently getting the short end of the stick.

I just don't see why we can't have English M Ps voting on issues that affect England, Scottish M Ps voting on issues that affect Scotland, Welsh M Ps voting on issues that affect Wales etc. and all M Ps voting on issues that affect the entire United Kingdom.

If someone could clarify to me why not, I'd be grateful.

The only reason why not, pagad, is that that isn't how it works at the moment. One of the suggested reforms, which has four national assemblies who come together now and then to form a UK government, actually fits your description quite happily.

Yeah, that sounds pretty good tbh.

It's the solution that (imo) makes the most sense, but it isn't the simplest to implement, it changes all four governments and it puts a lot more politicians' futures at risk. I don't think making sense is necessarily enough to get it through.

Well, making sensible but tough decisions is what we pay these guys for.

EDIT: You've got more chance of getting the Conservatives to do this than Labour. Scotland is nearly all Labour, so Labour have a stake in the current system.

edited 18th Nov '10 7:26:17 AM by GameChainsaw