"The arms that you wield now are not such as your forefathers wielded; but they are infinitely more effective, and infinitely more irresistable" ~ Cymru Fydd leaflet, 1890

Monday 25 March 2013

The West Anglia Question

You may have heard about "The West Lothian Question". It dates back to 1886 in one form or another but it's present incarnation (and catchy name) stems from 1977 when a Labour MP from West Lothian asked the following question.
Original pic from here
"For how long will English constituencies and English Honourable members tolerate... at least 119 Honourable Members from Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland exercising an important, and probably often decisive, effect on English politics while they themselves have no say in the same matters in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland?"

It's a very sensible question and it makes even more sense in the age of devolution and an upcoming referendum in Scotland. Of course politicians who are not representing English constituencies should not be able to vote on matters that only effect England, just as the McKay commission has said. But this should not be a one way street. So I pose "The West Anglia Question".

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"For how long will non-English constituencies and non-English Honourable members tolerate... at least 533 Honourable Members from England exercising a colonial, and probably often exploitative, effect on non-English politics?"

I think that's fair, so when we in Wales want something devolved, only Welsh MPs should be allowed to decide whether they should or not. As we have seen before, having a majority of Welsh MPs that represent unionist parties who take their orders from London means that we aren't likely to see the vote go our way. But it would make it far easier to show the Welsh public how much their unionist MPs are holding us back.
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Tweet "The West Anglia Question".

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