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ComradeRob · 17 Jan 2007, 10:10

This has all flared up because of the constitutional anomaly whereby the entire Westminster parliament (including Scots and Welsh) can vote on issues of, say, health or education, when the policy decided upon would only apply to England (and would only apply in Scotland or Wales if voted for by their own parliament/assembly). This seems to be somewhat unfair.

The answer to the constitutional question is, in my opinion, fairly simple. Westminster needs to give up its role in health, education and other similar policy areas. It has already done this in Scotland and Wales, and could do so in England by devolving such powers down to local government (in a perfect fantasy world, we would also reinstitute the county system of local government and have basically self-governing counties so far as health/education/etc. was concerned).

Departments like Health and Education are, in fact, only fairly recent inventions (in the grand scheme of things) and don't fulfil any vital constitutional function. Local control over services makes vastly more sense than trying to run things from Westminster/Whitehall anyway.

Bingo, West Lothian question answered, because we would never get (as we do now) Scots MPs voting on, say, 'British' health issues which in fact only affect England. If Westminster was only responsible for truly Britain-wide issues such as defence, law and order and the like, there would be no grounds for complaint.

17 Jan 2007, 10:10	#24
ComradeRob wasted Join Date: Dec 2000 Location: Under the floorboards Posts: 1,240	Re: the Union Forever? This has all flared up because of the constitutional anomaly whereby the entire Westminster parliament (including Scots and Welsh) can vote on issues of, say, health or education, when the policy decided upon would only apply to England (and would only apply in Scotland or Wales if voted for by their own parliament/assembly). This seems to be somewhat unfair. The answer to the constitutional question is, in my opinion, fairly simple. Westminster needs to give up its role in health, education and other similar policy areas. It has already done this in Scotland and Wales, and could do so in England by devolving such powers down to local government (in a perfect fantasy world, we would also reinstitute the county system of local government and have basically self-governing counties so far as health/education/etc. was concerned). Departments like Health and Education are, in fact, only fairly recent inventions (in the grand scheme of things) and don't fulfil any vital constitutional function. Local control over services makes vastly more sense than trying to run things from Westminster/Whitehall anyway. Bingo, West Lothian question answered, because we would never get (as we do now) Scots MPs voting on, say, 'British' health issues which in fact only affect England. If Westminster was only responsible for truly Britain-wide issues such as defence, law and order and the like, there would be no grounds for complaint. __________________ “They were totally confused,” said the birdman, whose flying suit gives him a passing resemblance to Buzz Lightyear in Toy Story. “The authorities said that I was an unregistered aircraft and to fly, you need a licence. I told them, ‘No. To fly, you need wings’.”