Shuffling towards a federal UK

In response to Gordon Brown's proposals for "home rule" for Scotland in the event of a No vote, there have been many murmurings about what is to be done about England and the West Lothian Question. In line with the current government fashion, the most popular change suggested is to resurrect regional devolution, only this time to city regions in the form of combined authorities.

Although giving more powers to cities would be welcome, it is not clear what this has to do with the matter at hand, namely who gets to write legislation for England. More importantly right now, it is a gross insult to Scotland to assert that English regions are constitutionally equivalent to the whole of their country. If the union is to mean anything, it should mean equal treatment for the constituent countries, and the only logical conclusion is an English parliament.

As I've argued before, if such a parliament was designed correctly it would have the added benefit of reducing the unhealthy dominance of London over the rest of the UK. It would moreover concentrate minds in Westminster wonderfully in a future referendum if Scotland were entitled to take 8% of London with it if it separated.


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