Month: December 2006

I have been asked??by a number of readers if??I would post my thoughts on the West Lothian Question and the establishment of a separate English Parliament.

I do strongly believe that England should be treated fairly within the Union and that we need new democratic arrangements to deal with all the English issues that are currently being put to the United Kingdom parliament.?? As early as 1999 I warned of the threat to the United Kingdom from Labour’s botched devolution settlement in my book, <a href="http://www.amazon.co.uk/Death-Britain-John-Redwood/dp/033374439X/sr=8-2/qid=1166440997/ref=sr_1_2/202-3656065-9987009?ie=UTF8&s=books">The Death of Britain?</a>

However, while I agree we need to do something to remedy the anomoly whereby MPs elected for English constituencies cannot vote on many matters affecting Scotland, and MPs elected to Scottish constituencies can vote on everyone else’s legislation but their own, I do not favour the establishment of a new English Parliament in a new building at enormous cost to the taxpayer away from Westminster.

What I would like to see is the return of the English Parliament to Westminster.?? Everything which is an English matter, including health, education, local Government, planning and law and order, should be considered only by English Members of the Westminster Parliament meeting as the English Parliament.?? This would give England the same devolved powers as enjoyed in Scotland, create a stronger sense of English identity around the traditional Parliament of England, and avoid any extra costs and hassles associated with devolution in Scotland and Wales.

My view is that all of us elected to the Westminster Parliament for English constituencies should perform a dual role.?? We should work with colleagues from Scotland and Wales and Northern Ireland on Union matters for part of the week, and for the rest of the week, the Westminster Parliament itself should be the English Parliament, where we, English representatives, settle all the matters that are devolved Scotland ourselves at Westminster, without the help or interference of our colleagues from Scotland, Wales or Northern Ireland.?? The English Parliament at Westminster would therefore create a much more fair and balanced United Kingdom.

The??game is up for big ticket loans and gifts from rich individuals and companies??to the main political parties.?? It is extraordinary that Labour carry??on as if nothing has happened, with the police investigating their fund raising activities over the last two elections.?? Even if we assume that no charges are brought in the end, things will not be the same again.?? Parties not only need to be above suspicion, but to be seen to be above suspicion.

The tragedy of big money politics is that the public dislike the way the money is spent, as well as how it is raised.?? The two main parties ran very expensive General Election campaigns in 2005 which made it less likely that people would vote for them.?? Between elections parties spend too much on polls and focus groups, so they can craft messages based on what people already think or want.?? No wonder people are so distrustful of the main parties.

The answer is not more public funding of political parties.?? It would be a bad idea to say to the public, "because you cannot trust us to raise the money privately we will take it from you through taxation and give it to ourselves".?? The main political parties have to wake up to the reality of life – you only spend what you can earn.?? The parties have to adjust their budgets to what they can raise in voluntary subscriptions from donors, whilst no longer asking for a few mega grants and loans from the very rich.

<p>People tell me they do not hear enough from the Conservatives about Europe.?? There is a strong Eurosceptic tide of opinion in Britain which I welcome. Many of us feel that Brussels takes too much of our money, wastes too much of it, interferes too much in our lawmaking, is far too bureaucratic and wrecks any industry like fishing that it gets its hands around completely.?? We want far less interference from Brussels, dislike the regional Government that is all part of the Brussels scheme, and would be delighted if Brussels took a few years off from legislating.</p>
<p>I do, however, find it extraordinary that well intentioned Eurosceptics can think the UKIP strategy is a winning one which will make the problem better. The last three General Elections have shown that neither the Referendum Party nor UKIP can win a single Westminster seat, however strongly and fiercely they put their case for disengagement or withdrawal from the European Union.?? They have also shown that by putting some of their better candidates and strongest efforts into opposing Eurosceptic Conservatives in seats the Conservatives can win, they may give us ??more federalist MPs by tipping the balance in favour of the pro-EU Liberal Democrat or Labour candidate.?? How stupid can you get?<br />
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<p>The facts of British political life are very simple.?? The Labour Party favours more unaccountable EU power, want the Euro in principle, ??would like to sign up to the European Constitution if given half the chance, and merrily give away power after power in the Treaties of Nice, Amsterdam and in a whole series of day-by-day decisions on directives and regulations.?? The Conservative Party opposes the Euro in principle, opposes the European Union’s constitution in principle, ??wishes to get powers back from Brussels and ??opposes many of the directives and regulations that come to vex us.?? Either of these two parties can form a majority Government.?? In recent years, partly because of the splits amongst the Eurosceptic majority, the federalist Labour Party has ruled the roost and has been able to effect a further substantial transfer of power from Britain to Brussels.</p>
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<p>The Liberal Democrats could ??hold enough seats to have important influence, should Britain ever vote for a hung Parliament.?? They are an even more pro-federalist party than the Labour Party.</p>
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<p>Eurosceptics are often asking me what assurances I can give them that the current leadership of the Conservative Party wants to reverse the slide to federalism.?? They say they do not hear anything from the Conservatives to give ??confidence.?? I find this particularly surprising.?? I am David Cameron’s advisor on economic policy, chairing his Economic Competitiveness Commission.?? In 1997 I published Our Currency, Our Country? (Penguin), exposing the dangers of European Monetary Union and setting out the case against joining the Euro.??In 1999 I published The Death of Britain??, a strong attack on the constitutional changes being forced through by Labour, preparing the ground for Britain to be a fully integrated part of the EU state. In 2001 I published Just Say No, One Hundred Arguments Against the Euro?, which ranged more widely, opposing federalist transfers of power generally. In my most recent book, I Want to Make a Difference, But I Don’t Like Politics?, an integral part of the case I make is that remote, bureaucratic unelected and unaccountable Brussels Government is part of the reason people are so turned off politics.</p>
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<p>Most Conservative MPs feel as I do.?? We make this clear in debate after debate and through our opposition to directive after directive.?? More importantly, the leader of the Conservative Party imposed a whip on the Parliamentary Party to vote for Bill Cash’s excellent amendment to the Legislative and Regulatory Reform Bill last summer.?? ??New Clause 17, would have amended the European Communities Act of 1972 ??providing the legislative means to remove European burdens we do not like.?? It would fundamentally change Britain’s relationship with the EU in favour of democratic common sense.?? If Liberal Democrat and Labour MPs had supported us in the lobbies we would now be a sovereign country again, able to pick and choose from amongst the legislative ideas coming from Brussels.?? Britain would no longer have to accept rules and regulation which its people and Government opposed, where it had lost the argument or the vote under the Qualified Voting System.<br />
<span />Eurosceptic critics of the Conservative Party forget that we have now had three leaders of the party who have all opposed the currency and the EU Constitution in principle.?? ??They forget that the whole Parliamentary Party was whipped to vote against the big transfer of powers represented by the Nice and Amsterdam treaties, and we constantly made the case in the Commons that there was absolutely no need to strengthen central powers in order to invite in new trading partners amongst the Eastern European countries.</p>
<p>There is no pleasing some people.?? Every time a leader of the Conservative Party talks about some other subject, Eurosceptic critics shrug their shoulders and say, There you are.?? You cannot trust the Conservatives as he has made another speech on something other than Europe?.?? Many voters are more interested in the state of their local hospital, whether they have the choice of a good school, how much tax they are paying to Gordon Brown, whether their local environment is green and clean and whether there is a transport system that helps them get to work in the morning, than they are in constitutional issues surrounding the European Union.?? A great national party which wants to win the trust of the British people to govern again cannot ignore these legitimate concerns and has a natural interest in them anyway.?? Our stance on Europe, shown by our words and our votes, shows we understand that in some cases to do what we need to do at home we first have to remove EU obstacles abroad.</p>
<p><span />Many people now have a very consumerist attitude towards politics.?? Most people going into the local department store do not want to get involved in an argument about the company structure, the corporate governance of ??the shop, its stock policy, what contractual relationship it has with its suppliers, or what its staffing policy may be.?? They just wish to see a good choice of goods ??and will buy the ones that are attractively priced and to their liking.?? The same is true for many of politics.?? Whilst to the connoisseurs and the patriots the question of constitutional arrangements is fundamental, because it determines how all other matters are settled or resolved, to most voters the constitutional issue is unimportant.?? They are more preoccupied by their Council Tax Bill or by how long they have to wait to get a hip operation.</p>
<p>A big democratic party that wishes to do the right thing for Britain needs to take this on board and to talk to people about their problems.?? Sensible Eurosceptics will understand that we can achieve nothing in sorting out the relationship between London and Brussels unless we have a majority in the House of Commons.?? The hard facts of political arithmetic are very simple.?? UKIP is not about to win seats at Westminster.?? All it does is aid and abet the federalist cause by opposing good Eurosceptic Conservatives.?? If it really wished to be positive, it could use its base and support to help Eurosceptic Conservative candidates and to put its best and fiercest critics of this Government’s federalism into opposing high profile Labour and Lib Dem?? figures in seats they currently hold with a big majority.</p>

<p>International businesses are telling us that the UK is losing its competitive edge. That means less investment and fewer jobs coming to Britain. Top of their list of complaints is often taxation. It’s not just that the UK’s corporation tax rate is well above the most competitive countries in the world; it’s also that people in business detect a far more aggressive attitude by the Revenue, with little certainty about how the Revenue will judge matters and a lack of consistency in their treatment.</p>
<p>There is also growing concern about the inadequacies of our transport system, where we lack capacity on both rail and road; about high energy prices and shortage of supply, and about over regulation. The UK lives by foreign trade and investment. It needs to stay competitive to ensure enough jobs and deecent living standards here at home. If governemnt continues to place burden after burden on business through regulation and taxation, and fails to tackle the urgent problems with our transport networks, skills and energy supply, unemployment will continue to rise.</p>