Douglas Carswell's Blog

Do we need an English parliament?

"Yes" - is the easy answer. Clearly there is something wrong with the status quo in Westminster, which allows a large number of MPs to vote on matters that do not concern their constituents.

An English parliament, so the theory goes, would correct the imbalance. 

But hang on a moment. More politicians? Another talking shop? Another tier of elected officials with readymade excuses for not getting things done?

And in what ways might an English parliament be very different from a mega regional assembly? I believe regional assemblies are a thoroughly bad, undemocratic thing.

A slightly different idea doing the rounds in Westminster is to restrict the ability of non-English MPs to vote on exclusively English matters.   That, too, might sound superficially attractive. Until you realise that the good old boy system in SW1 seems to be increasingly taken by the idea. 

Why? It would allow “the usual channels” to further restrict the ability of members of the legislature in from holding ministers to account. Excluding backbenchers from aspects of Commons proceedings would be a dream come true for whips, as it would, in effect, reduce the number of non-payroll MPs able to probe front benchers.

As I propose in the video clip below, why not do something much simpler?  Give every county and metropolitan council in England the same power currently held by the Welsh assembly and Scottish parliament. 

Too small?  Nonsense.  Essex has a population larger than many American states.  If New Hampshire is a viable state, then why not the old?  

The imbalance in our system has been created by devolving some areas of responsibility from Westminster to Edinburgh and Cardiff. We should now devolve those same areas of responsibility within England, too. Counties have long standing identities and well established local assemblies.

But, I hear some cry, that could mean Essex had a different policy approach to Kent and Somerset and Yorkshire. Indeed. The decades of Whitehall stasis would be replaced by a dynamic English system of government, where we could see what worked.

As Essex county's motto says, "Many minds, one heart".

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