England Disadvantaged
Think England gets a fair deal? Think again! Here’s what the UK government spends on each country:
2007-2008 UK identifiable expenditure by function and country, £ per head |
||||
| England | Scotland | Wales | N. Irl | |
| General Public Services | £129 | £213 | £247 | £281 |
| Public Order and Safety | £487 | £439 | £490 | £688 |
| Enterprise and Economic Development | £96 | £214 | £267 | £215 |
| Science and Technology | £30 | £42 | £19 | £33 |
| Employment Policies | £52 | £55 | £46 | £104 |
| Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry | £74 | £219 | £114 | £295 |
| Transport | £323 | £552 | £303 | £318 |
| Environmental Protection | £147 | £196 | £185 | £135 |
| Housing and Community Ammenities | £184 | £387 | £193 | £439 |
| Health | £1,679 | £1,919 | £1,758 | £1,770 |
| Recreation, Culture and Religion | £119 | £203 | £220 | £226 |
| Education and Training | £1,278 | £1,455 | £1,322 | £1,475 |
| Social Protection | £2,938 | £3,284 | £3,413 | £3,810 |
| Total | £7,535 | £9,179 | £8,577 | £9,789 |
| As a percentage of Mean | 86% | 105% | 98% | 112% |
Finances
It would be indefensible to suggest that money should not be directed towards poorer parts of the UK whilst England is part of the Union. However, the movement towards a regional assembly in the North East of England was partly driven by the disparity between its funding and that of neighbouring Scotland. Indeed, taking the 2000/2001 figures, if the level of expenditure in Scotland had been matched in the North East, the region would have received a further £627 per person, an increase of £1.35 billion. This is a disparity maintained by the UK Government. Scotland received more money before devolution, it still receives more despite the fact that it can now raise money through taxation of its own people. An English parliament is required to address this affront to the people of the North East and other parts of England.
The funding gap (£/head) between England and Scotland has grown in recent years. In 1999/2000 it stood at £376, in 2000/2001 it was £627 and in the financial year 2006/2006 it had jumped to £1,503 per person, per year.
In the year 2000 Tony Blair said: “The Barnett Formula has its own inbuilt review in the sense that it narrows the gap over time.”
The Barnett Formula is in theory supposed to equalise spending between Scotland, Wales and England but there is no sign of this. England desperately needs its own parliament to fight for its share of money, not just for the North East but for all of England.
It is doubtful that a North East Assembly would have had the necessary political clout to achieve this aim. What’s more, it would not have addressed the funding disparity between Scotland and England. A North East assembly might have just succeeded in taking funding from the other parts of England instead of forcing the UK Government to distribute money around the UK fairly.
Representation
Ministers of Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland can represent the whole of the UK at Brussels. Neither England as a whole, nor its proposed regions can do this.
In the House of Commons, Scottish, Welsh and Northern Irish MPs can vote on purely English affairs and affect what happens to England, but English MPs are prohibited from voting on matters purely affecting their countries. This is because England has no Parliament of its own where people of England can decide things for themselves.
In May 2003 Scottish Labour MPs voted in favour of foundation hospitals in England despite the fact that the Scottish Labour Party had rejected them for Scotland where English representatives have no say.
In England there are fewer MPs per head of population than in Scotland, Wales or Northern Ireland.
Despite having achieved devolution, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland still have special ministers in the UK government dedicated to furthering their interests. England has none. The Scottish Office, Welsh Office and Northern Irish Office are charged with ensuring that their respective nations’ interests are represented within the UK.
Nationhood
In the event of a YES vote on UK entry into the European Monetary Union, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland and all the continental nations of Europe would have representation provided by their national parliaments. England has no parliament so it would be represented by the UK Parliament. England will be the only nation of Europe without specific representation for its people.
Europe of the Regions produced a map of England that famously omitted England yet included the other nations of the UK. This is the reality of England’s situation. England is a political non-entity: The proposed regional assemblies of England will not have the powers of the Scottish Parliament. As John Prescott has commented “People do not expect the equivalent of a Scottish Parliament for the English regions.” An English Parliament is needed to provide parity with the people of Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland because the people of England do expect that.
Without any democratic overall guidance in the form of an English Parliament the regionalisation of England will result in English regions squabbling over budget allocations, and fighting for EU funds with all the members of the EU. The result will be a Balkanised England - this is the end of England as a cohesive unit.
An English Parliament
Would ensure that the present democratic deficit operating in the UK was addressed. It would ensure that England has influence and that the people of England have a voice in the UK, within Europe and on the international stage to promote England’s culture, tourism, history and trade.
The future of England can be bright, whether it is as part of the UK, as an independent nation state or as a state within Europe. Regardless of which route we take we must first have recognition in order to preserve and codify our individual identity as an historic nation, this is only fair. Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, quite rightly, already have this.
Please join us
We need members and funds with which to campaign. We have members from all political persuasions who care about the people of England and want to see them properly represented. Unfortunately many politicians are either unaware of what is going on or have a vested political interest in seeing England under-represented.
England was described as the Mother of all Parliaments. Help us to persuade the politicians of England to return fair democratic representation to England by joining us today.
Why is it “…indefensible to suggest that money should not be directed towards poorer parts of the UK whilst England is part of the Union”? Surely this is the root cause of mediocraty - rewarding failure by taxing success. If these other counries want to remain members of the Union they should pay for it, and if they don’t they should be allowed to completely take care of their own affairs. Certainly not be subsidised by England.
April 28th, 2008 at 2:57 pmThe Barnett Formula is NOT designed to narrow the gap over time. This is a LIE that is deliberately spread to take the heat out of this issue.
Joel Barnett himself has said that he has no idea where this suggestion has come from and that it is certainly not true.
April 29th, 2008 at 7:23 amEngland has disadvantaged itself. We the English have been too compliant and have been brainwashed over the years that it’s great to be British whereas the truth is it’s a pain to be British. We get all the crap from Scotland, Wales, NI and the erstwhile commonwealth nations without any of the perks. First we need to have a ruling that we have zero British members of Parliament in England and only English born members. Kick all the current British members back into their own British countries and let them screw those countries up. Next we need to repatriate all the British immigrants to anywhere outside England and take back our housing stock. Then we can review who we want to let in. We need to establish that we are not British, but English, and we need an English Passport. We need to get out of EU and UN and run our own affairs, probably with greater affinity to USA. I realise these moves don’t solve all the problems but at least it’s a start.
April 29th, 2008 at 8:07 pmi agree a couple of things;1,…the British are a pain in the arse !….2,we English need to thoroughly establish a strong minded group who will not compromise below a ENGLISH PARLIAMENT leading to independence !….3,I doubt if any british politicians will want to be involved,but if they are committed to Englishness & England as the, indeviduals in Snp P/C, personally i have no problem. We have an array of cardboard cut outs of ENGLISH MPs/POLITICIANS who wont open there COWARDLY MOUTHS !….EU is a bottomless pit of debt & people, only Politicians like the kinnocks , Mandleson,etc troughing a fortune
April 29th, 2008 at 8:42 pmEngland’s future should be determined by all those whose home and future is England - and that includes immigrants from Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland and elsewhere.
But I agree that there should be no place in our Parliament for those who do not identify with England and its people - including all the “British” MPs at Westminster who are so determined to discriminate against us simply because of the country we live in.
April 29th, 2008 at 10:14 pmI agree David except the bit “that includes immigrants from Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland and elsewhere”. By definition, as a group, they cannot be relied on to have England’s best interests at heart and so should not be allowed to take part in it’s government. In fact their inclusion is exactly where we are today and where we want to get away from. The only people to be allowed in an English Government must be English by birth from English stock. No British allowed. As soon as we start to make allowances for other groups we lose the thrust of our objective to be English.
May 4th, 2008 at 12:25 pmWalter De La Mare said it best in his “The Listeners” (and beautifully)
“Is there anybody there?” said the Traveler,
Knocking on the moonlit door;
And his horse in the silence champed the grasses
Of the forest’s ferny floor:
And a bird flew up out of the turret,
Above the Traveler’s head
And he smote upon the door a secod time;
“Is there anybody there?” he said…..
(Note. “Traveler”; a bone fide domiciled resident making a one off journey to visit someone. Not to be confused with “gypsy”)
June 2nd, 2008 at 4:11 pmEngland should already have a parliament of its own. I totally support an English parliament despite the fact that someone like me (British) would not be welcome or allowed to be involved. This breaking up of the Union does little for people like me and I feel a bit displaced at times because nowhere is really home anymore. I am half English and half Welsh through birth and where I have lived. My English family is from the wonderful Devon and my Welsh family from west Wales. Where does that leave people like me in this new and broken down set of countries?
I could not really be involved in the Welsh or the English parliaments judging by what some are saying here and have said to me in Wales because I am a “mongrel” (only said by the Welsh I have to say). I am not 100% English or from complete “English stock”. This is the only problem with this situation there are a lot of us out there now who truly are British simply because we are a mix of English and Welsh or Scottish etc. English people may think someone like me would work to help the Welsh and vice versa if in parliament. How could we prove our loyalty? I do 100% support an English parliament with only English interests but am not too sure about stopping people who are not 100% English to be involved because then we certainly will never have a voice.
I do celebrate St.George’s Day, fly the St. George flag and have signed my support to the .eng domain, St.George Day holiday and for an English parliament. Does that show loyalty to England rather than to Wales or would I need to do more to be accepted by the anti-British lot? I guess I am a traitor to Wales now, LOL!! See, people like me cannot win and living in this country at the moment is very difficult indeed when you really are a true Briton.
Best of luck to you and I hope you get full power for England as it should be already.
June 11th, 2008 at 7:35 pmLittle Fire
Since you think it right that England should have her own parliament, you qualify for membership of the CEP, if you wish to join us.
Parity for England (with Scotland) is what the campaign is about.
June 12th, 2008 at 8:34 amLittle Fire
One of the fundamental principles of the Campaign for an English Parliament is that such a Parliament will represent all people who have legally made England their home regardless of how they identify them selves,unlike what some respondents on this blog seem to state. Thus the CEP welcomes everyone to become members. clearly the effects of devolution imposed by this Government have been divisive and in order to maintain any kind of Union such divisions, anomalies and downright discrimination against English interests must be addressed.
Scilla Cullen
June 13th, 2008 at 6:02 amChairman, CEP
One of the basic principles of democracy is; “No taxation without representation.” Now that Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales have had powers devolved to national assemblies and a parliament the English taxpayer has no representation in these bodies and therefore should not be expected to contribute to the costs of these devolved powers, they should be paid for purely out of revenues received in those bodies own areas. I for one do not see why I should be paying towards the pension of the Scottish first minister. They should also still pay the money required for the undevolved powers at Westminster first and that should be in proportion to the percentage of the population of the UK that each region constitutes, in Scotland’s case 8.5%
July 19th, 2008 at 10:15 am