seeingclearly wrote:ErnstRemarx wrote:TechnicalEphemera wrote:Just heard Tim Farron fielding don't you agree with EV4EL shit from Tory wanker Peter Allen on five live.
He basically said fine, but only after we devolve power to the regions. Said it wasn't acceptable that a bunch of Tories in the South East got to rule the North.
Christ - I find myself agreeing with him. Quelle horreur.
The EV4EL business is the biggest pile of shit yet promulgated on the back of the vote on the 18th. The West Lothian question is *irrelevant* if you accept that Westminster is the national parliament. Full stop. That's it. What's more, once you start excluding democratically elected MPs from votes in a parliament that they were elected to, where do you stop? HS2: OK, any MP whose constituency isn't directly affected by HS2 may no longer vote on the matter.
And on and on it goes. The whole nonsense about EV4EL is simply last gasp gerrymandering. Have an English parliament? No, fuck off - why should the north's fate be decided by southern MPs whose interests may well be diametrically opposed to those of the people living in the north.
I stated my position a day or so back: a UK parliament as we have now passing umbrella national legislation. English regional assemblies - democratically elected - that can vary the bills passed, plus have additional powers over tax, spend, health, investment, etc, etc. Job's a good 'un.
Why wouldn't it work?
.
Regional assemblies, yes, but don't let them be dressed as parliaments, they'll be expected to sink or swim alone. There's been enough larceny already.
Let's give them all the powers of the Scottish Parliament, except law. The problem is finding regions that work. You need about 5-10 million people for economies of scale and they are probably an amalgamation of counties.
Problems start around issues like:
Where do you put lincs, are Notts, Derbs North or Midlands, where does Northants fit.
You need to create economic groupings so Warks is Midlands because of its relationship with Birmingham.
Gloucestershire, Somerset, Wilts are probably a grouping, although Somerset could join Devon and Cornwall.
Devon and Cornwall but Dorset?
Kent,Surrey, Sussex, Hampshire, but what about Berks?
Do Bucks, Beds, Herts Cambs work?
What do you do with Oxon?
Or pick city states, but what do you do with the huge swathes of countryside (like middle England).
Release the Guardvarks.