David Cameron challenge: Where is your English Manifesto?
Press release – immediate release 25th April 2015
We are thankful today (25/04) David Cameron has acknowledged that the English Question must be answered as it is an undisputable fact that the people of England have been treated appallingly. An English manifesto was mentioned, which begs the question; Where is it? Can you please produce it?
The Conservatives produce separate manifestos for Scotland and Wales, so if the Conservatives want to hold on to any credibility they will need to have produced the same for England. It’s called being treated with fairness and equality!
Simply holding up a British manifesto which contains a couple of words about England does not equate to an English manifesto. Some might even suggest that David Cameron is being economical with the truth on this matter! So here is a challenge for you Mr Cameron…show us your English manifesto, produced as a separate document purely for England please. Stale rhetoric about English votes on English Laws is not good enough. Words are cheap and you could have easily produced an English manifesto in the run up to this election.
We need to be realistic ‘English votes on English Laws’ is not good enough and it will not work as it raises more questions than it answers. We need straight answers to straight questions, such as will there be a First Minister for England? Will there be an administration devoted to English affairs? And will there be an English Manifesto?
There are other real problems with English Votes on English laws as it doesn’t address the following points:
1. English laws will still be proposed by a British Government and scrutinised by a House of Lords, containing members from across the UK and abroad.
2. It is a procedural device, without the force of legislation, which can be reversed at any time without the formality of repealing an Act of Parliament.
3. It does not provide a workable solution for the eventuality of a Government being in power with an overall majority but without a majority of English seats.
The only answer is an English Parliament or else the SNP might find themselves in control of English Taxes!!!
Worried? You should be as they have vowed to put Scotland First on all matters!
Eddie Bone, Campaign for an English Parliament.
We are available for interviews – mob 07980667732
This is my reply to their contact in response to them sending me the ‘English’ manifesto!
Dear Ms xxxxxx,
On investigation of the copy of the so-called ‘English’ manifesto that you have sent me, I see that it is nothing of the sort, it is your UK/British manifesto that mentions England and English matters. Where is the separate manifesto for England equivalent to your Scottish and Welsh manifesto? Yet again you have short changed England. Moreover to add insult to injury it states ‘We will retain the Barnett Formula as the basis for determining the grant to cover that part of the Scottish Parliament’s budget not funded by tax revenues raised in Scotland’.
The late Lord Barnett, devised this formula in 1979 as a short term expedient. He himself said to me that this formula was outdated and confirmed that it was never based on need, despite the frequent assertions to the contrary made by Gordon Brown and others.
The current ratio, based on relative 1979 population figures, is 10% for Scotland (but now Scotland has only 8% of the UK population but they still get 10%) and 5% for Wales and helps to determine the size of the Northern Ireland grant when the overall public spending in England rises. (There are no good records of the grants falling when expenditure in England falls). The result has been that public spending per head in England is far below that of the rest of the UK leaving less to apportion throughout England. Moreover the perpetual deficit for England ((97%)has led to a scandalous and ever increasing loss of income for England
Thus, based on ONS figures for 2012-2013, £8,676 per head was available to spend on public services in England; in Scotland £10,327 per head, Wales £9,877 and Northern Ireland £11,064 . Clearly England is being short changed by British governments. While there is no-one in England to stand up for us in Parliament this situation will never end and we will continue to see cutbacks in the health service and elsewhere and the selling off of by British Governments of English national assets such as forests and portions of our national parks.
I remain appalled at the treatment of England by successive British Governments. Unlike Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland we have no political or constitutional recognition. As the people of those countries and that Province have been so recognised with their separate governments and we have not we fall under the UN definition of unrepresented peoples.
Scilla Cullen
We have pointed out the absurdity of EVELs so many times but they just don’t listen. It can only be implemented if the Tories win an overall majority in which case English constituency MPs will already have a veto. It is just a con trick to being played on an unsuspecting electorate.