Are English people treated worse than the rest of the UK?

[Haruka]

Not a goady thread, I am foreign-born and reading the new rules on bus passes today has once again thrown up this question for me. Perhaps there are other systems in place and someone can shine a light on this and educate me.

But why is it that English people seem to constantly have worse conditions than the rest of Britain, and are we thus subsidising the other nations?

• Bus passes: new rules will link eligibility in England to state pension age, while old people in Scotland and Wales will remain eligible from age 60
• University fees: no tuition fees for Scots, but the other nations pay fees of almost 10k.
• No prescription charges in Wales or Scotland, but English people pay £9.90 per item. We all use the NHS.

I'm sure there are more. I do not mean to insult anyone; these are just current rules. So why is it that in all 3 examples the English are worst off? Do people in the other nations pay more through taxes?

I wouldn’t agree that you get what you vote for. In England, I’m not aware that we have ever had the opportunity to vote for free prescriptions or bus passes nationally.
As for education, I remember being shocked when Tony Blair’s government introduced fees to go to university, and if it was in their manifesto it was kept very quiet. In England, when you vote you are voting on very general issues, eg do you want a right or left wing government, and single issues are less pertinent. Or you may find yourself voting for the party which promotes more of your values, but it doesn’t mean you agree with all of them. Or it may be the case that none of the people offering themselves up for election volunteer to promote an issue that may be important to an an individual . It might be that you are voting for the of a bad bunch. There is the lack of clarity factor on many contentious issues. There are numerous reasons why you can’t assume you get what you vote for.
And I think it’s the case that in a small population, a single vote carries more weight than that in a much more populous state.

Scotland Wales and NI have two "governments"... their own one (,Scottish Assembly etc) and the UK one. England just has the UK one. So England follows the National policy, and the other nations can overrule it.

If you want real "fun", find the people who live in one nation but work in the other... the tax and entitlements are a minefield.

1 847 350 Scottish students attended university in 23/24. Approx 10k per head for costs. Quite a sum. Plus they still need to find money for all other provision, council, fire, police social care.

BBC News - Barnett formula: Which parts of the UK have the most money spent on them? - BBC News
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-northern-ireland-38077948?app-referrer=deep-link

The chart in the above link shows the unfairness in money given to devolved nations. This is the main driver of the disparity.

There’s no more detail in a Welsh or Scottish manifesto. There may be fewer voters but their votes also impact fewer people.

And also within England, the south/London suffers more with higher costs for property etc.

But has much better infrastructure.

Not just Liverpudlians. All people over 60 in the Merseyside area get free bus, ferry and local train travel. Most of them aren't from Liverpool.

And vastly higher average salaries than rural areas of Wales/ Scotland/ NI.

The whole thing just leads to circles of discontent. Minimum wage workers in The North see millionaires in the South getting free transport or school meals etc when they are relying on food banks or free University in Scotland and feel like they bottom of the geap, which then leads to do things like Reform...

Health is devolved (along with some other areas of government) so yes, the NHS is 'different'. They have different commissioning and delivery structures and are funded by the money their own governments have to spend. So if waiting lists are long in Wales, that's the responsibility of the Welsh Labour government, not the UK government.

Of course, when the UK government is of different stripes (Tory), the Welsh Labour government would blame all their problems on the UK. Interesting to see how that changes with two Labour governments (for now).

Because if we do anything about it, Scotland will vote for independence.

Have you been to Scotland OP? You can drive for miles and miles without seeing a house, person or car. Miles.

No.

Excellent point.

I think this is what’s missed. It’s not England being treated worse that makes Scotland prioritise different things.

It’s not true that there is always a clear correlation between higher population and higher crime rates. Numbers maybe but rates are a different thing. There was a time when Glasgow had a huge issue with knife crime for example.

You can buy a yearly prescriptions pass.

it’s I think about 104 for a year and then you don’t pay for each prescription.

in addition there are a lot of exemptions - under 18, some specific diseases (eg thyroid), etc.

But then the North is being subsidised by the South East so swings and roundabouts.

I also pay a 4 figure sum of money in tax per year for the privilege of living in Scotland and the only thing I benefit from is free prescriptions and eye tests. Can't get an NHS dentist, use private medical cover for hospital appointments, can't get on a bus at peak times cos someone also gave all the under 22's free bus travel and now they go 2 stops to school instead of walking!

Life expectancy is lower in Scotland than in England, with recent data from 2021-2023 showing it to be 76.8 years for males and 80.8 years for females in Scotland, compared to 79.1 years for males and 83.0 years for females in England

You die younger in Scotland. Despite paying more tax.

Agree. It's not the same NHS.

We're in Wales and I'd rather pay for prescriptions and have a better funded NHS.

Our local hospital a&e is horrendous, 12 hours waiting times, people sat in chairs waiting for beds for days.

Waiting lists double and treble the length of the same in England.

Population size, economic size, rural poverty, cost of service delivery and morale.

If ~95% of people get free prescriptions in England, that's 2M people paying, in Scotland that would be 200k. At that point there is a significant chance that the admin cost of tracking who gets free prescriptions vs paying is more than the prescription charge would raise.

On bus passes, buses are a literal lifeline in rural areas and the service is incredibly poor. There are already problems in rural areas where people who should not drive do because otherwise they cannot access food, services and the community. If they're encouraged to use the bus before their health declines in old age, then they are less likely to risk driving and costing more as a result of collisions. This may become more of a financial issue with an aging population, but in the devolved nations this will still be delayed due to population size.

Scotland does have higher tax too, and even with the higher £ per capita give, cost of providing services is much higher due to lower population density.

Overall though, Scotland does a lot more for it's population than England, as people say, more left leaning. However, that wouldn't be the same if it had similar population density to England. This is why devolved power is so important. Westminster holds too much power over England and more should be devolved into regional governments.

This is... nonsense.

The English love the Tories though so that would explain it.