Is it now time for an 'English' government?

[Plannergirl9]

The UK government has just published its strategy for coming out of lockdown. However the vast majority of the strategy is for England only.

Boris is the Prime Minister of the UK but is also the leader of the government in England even though it doesn't legally exist as England doesn't have devolution. Matt Hancock is the health Secretary for England only. Dominic Rabb however is the first secretary of state for the UK as defence minister.

Given some of the confusion about the changes in guidance announced yesterday and MSM not being wholey clear the changes are for England only, surely it is time to look to have a bit more distinction between both of Boris's roles and the powers he has for England only.

I am from Scotland and whilst I believe in a federal uk this isn't a thread about Scottish independence.

Well since health is devolved it’s controlled under the Scottish Government but the UK government control certain things uk wide.

Yes yes yes! A thousand times yes!

The same powers should be devolved to regional parliaments in England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland with things like defence and international affairs left to Westminster.

It’s about bloody time. It’s a joke of a system right now!

I hate that Scotland has its own parliament but there’s regional devolution in England....if you happen to live in the right place i.e. a big city.

Likethebattle absolutely the UK government are responsible for UK wide issues such as defence, foreign policy.

I think people forget scotland isn't the only devolved nation.

SB1189 England should have the same type of devolution as the other nations, why should it have any less.

Having a federal uk would be much better.

I do think it's crazy England is the only country in the four nations that doesn't have its own parliament. I really think it should.

Absolutely

I want a London government. The rest of the country can face Brexit and recession, and London can stay in the EU as it overwhelmingly voted to.

I agree. It should be more clear which legislation / guidance refers to which jurisdiction

Also, it's unfair that Scottish and other MPs vote in Westminster on English issues. This is referred to as "The West Lothian question"
www.newstatesman.com/politics/2014/09/what-west-lothian-question

justmyview that was why David Cameron introduced "EVEL" after the Scottish Referendum.

www.parliament.uk/about/how/laws/bills/public/english-votes-for-english-laws/

To be honest I would be happy to get rid of the devolved Scottish government ( would not speak for other nations). It’s a huge extra layer of cost, it’s parochial in the extreme, and it’s about as relevant to those of us outside the Central Belt, as London is.
In my neck of the woods we rejected independence and we rejected Brexit, so we are not represented well at the present time.

Yes, of course. It's times like this you see how inefficient the current system is. The UK Government is currently speaking only to England because health is devolved to the other three nations. Of course England needs its own parliament, and for the UK to operate in a very small parliament for UK matters.

Federalism won't work in the current setup because England is just too big. If England split into regional bases it could work.

However, it will never happen and I think eventually Scotland, then Wales, then Northern Ireland will go their own ways. By that time, Cornwall may have joined them.

I think the UK has a maximum of a twenty year shelf life left.

By the way, totally agree,Scottish MPs have no business voting on English issues and they should recuse themselves.

An English parliament would just mean more politicians with their snouts in the gravy trough. A complete waste of money.

It’s bad enough living somewhere which now has a mayor for the county which has been declared a unitary authority - although my city votes labour, the county is overwhelmingly Tory so we got a Tory mayor. As far as I can see, the mayor has cost thousands and done nothing except spout hot air.
The Police and Crime Commissioner is another political appointment which achieves nothing and yet again is a Tory snout in the publicly funded trough

Haffiana - you do realise it wasn't just london that voted remain for Brexit, right? All four capital cities of UK voted remain plus a number of other areas.
And also some areas of London voted leave.
So can somewhere like Edinburgh replace Dagenham in your London only EU-remaining government?
What a stupid post.

In my neck of the woods we rejected independence and we rejected Brexit, so we are not represented well at the present time.

What do you mean? Independence didn't happen so if you're against it then you've got what you wanted, surely.

The time for devolved government for England was time ago. It's way overdue.
I think we never went down that route for fear it would break up England. I can see Yorkshire, the Midlands, the South West, and London, and other areas too promoting a case for local government.

By the way, totally agree,Scottish MPs have no business voting on English issues and they should recuse themselves.

Before EVEL SNP MPs did exactly that. Since EVEL all Scottish MPs don't vote on English matters.

I don't live in Scotland and have no particular opinion as to what Scotland could do re: government/indpendence. (Other than feeling the current UK set up is helping none of the countries within its remit.)

I would love to see Scotland et independence - they would sink without our money.

An English parliament would just mean more politicians with their snouts in the gravy trough. A complete waste of money.

I don't think so. Scottish, Welsh and NI MPs would disappear. English MPs would be in the English Parliament, and all of them could come together as a small micro UK Parliament on matters that go across all four nations. So you'd still be upwards of 80-100 MPs down.

What a stupid post.

Other parts of the country can choose to go their own way towards devolution or not. Up to them. In London there are a lot of people who want separation. Given that we are going to have a massive recession, there will be a huge cry for London to devolve. Many want it already as we are not represented by the current parliament.

Boris was not at all happy at that suggestion during PMQs. 😂

I would love to see Scotland et independence - they would sink without our money.

This doesn't make sense. They put the money in the pot just like everyone else, get some of it back to do all the devolved stuff, and the UK government keeps the rest to deal with UK wide projects etc.

It makes perfect sense - London subsides the UK in terms of tax. 35% of all UK tax comes from ones city.

If that jumped out Krankie doesn’t want to be part of us. Ta ta.

Well aren't you a fucking delight @emz771. Hope you have a nice big port to keep your nuclear weapon when it happens? Alternatively we could rent you Faslane for a couple of billion a year

Correct me if I'm wrong but isn't one of the reasons we don't have because the Scottish government insisted on being able to vote on the equivalent of devolved areas in England?

I'm sure I remember some really frothy threads be on it a few years ago!