Walrus
Oppressed White Male
- Joined
- Aug 25, 2008
- Messages
- 11,176
This is largely a follow-on from the Scottish independence thread where I would like to discuss what people want to see change in the UK political system/constitution.
For those who have had their head in the sand for the last couple of weeks/years, Scotland yesterday voted to remain in the UK, albeit they have been promised by Cameron to have more powers devolved to the Scottish parliament.
This in turn has sparked some of the Welsh campaigners demanding similar autonomy, and is also causing a lot of disgruntlement amongst the English with regard to getting a bad deal, not having a devolved parliament etc.
Today David Cameron announced that there were to be changes in the UK political system, specifically an answer to the West Lothian question - why can Scottish/Welsh/NI MPs vote on English affairs but not vice versa?
Many, including myself, see this as a chance for a real shakeup of what at the moment is a pretty broken political system. The English control the vast majority of Westminster, which is one of the main gripes that caused 45% of Scots to vote for independence, so they can no longer be governed by a party they didn't vote for (ie the Tories). Similarly the English feel hard done by as we have no equivalent devolved parliament to look out for purely English affairs - our only voice is the UK government in Westminster, which should be looking out for the entire UK, not just England.
My own suggestion (which I have seen others propose as well) would be for the UK to move towards a federal system of government whereby all four of the home nations can become self-governing countries with a high degree of autonomy over all "local" affairs. The UK government would still oversee this however, and would rule on all matters of state such as Defense, foreign policy, and any "centralised" interests which are present throughout the UK (such as NHS and BBC - which all the home nations essentially benefit from equally). All other matters of tax, public spending & welfare would be delegated to the devolved parliaments.
In addition, with the above system in place I don't think there would be any great benefit of electing a UK government separately to the regional government, and thus I would also propose that the UK government would simply consist of MPs and ministers from each of the four devolved governments. The details at this point are a bit more blurry, in regard to proportional representation, and who acts as the head of state.
I would be interested to hear what others think would be best for the UK going forwards.
@Scrumpet @barros @sun_tzu @Mr Pigeon @ThierryHenry @Wolfboy @Jippy @Count Orduck @rcoobc @RedSRM @Ducklegs @Adebesi @NoWinNoFee @Marching sorry if I forgot anyone!
For those who have had their head in the sand for the last couple of weeks/years, Scotland yesterday voted to remain in the UK, albeit they have been promised by Cameron to have more powers devolved to the Scottish parliament.
This in turn has sparked some of the Welsh campaigners demanding similar autonomy, and is also causing a lot of disgruntlement amongst the English with regard to getting a bad deal, not having a devolved parliament etc.
Today David Cameron announced that there were to be changes in the UK political system, specifically an answer to the West Lothian question - why can Scottish/Welsh/NI MPs vote on English affairs but not vice versa?
Many, including myself, see this as a chance for a real shakeup of what at the moment is a pretty broken political system. The English control the vast majority of Westminster, which is one of the main gripes that caused 45% of Scots to vote for independence, so they can no longer be governed by a party they didn't vote for (ie the Tories). Similarly the English feel hard done by as we have no equivalent devolved parliament to look out for purely English affairs - our only voice is the UK government in Westminster, which should be looking out for the entire UK, not just England.
My own suggestion (which I have seen others propose as well) would be for the UK to move towards a federal system of government whereby all four of the home nations can become self-governing countries with a high degree of autonomy over all "local" affairs. The UK government would still oversee this however, and would rule on all matters of state such as Defense, foreign policy, and any "centralised" interests which are present throughout the UK (such as NHS and BBC - which all the home nations essentially benefit from equally). All other matters of tax, public spending & welfare would be delegated to the devolved parliaments.
In addition, with the above system in place I don't think there would be any great benefit of electing a UK government separately to the regional government, and thus I would also propose that the UK government would simply consist of MPs and ministers from each of the four devolved governments. The details at this point are a bit more blurry, in regard to proportional representation, and who acts as the head of state.
I would be interested to hear what others think would be best for the UK going forwards.
@Scrumpet @barros @sun_tzu @Mr Pigeon @ThierryHenry @Wolfboy @Jippy @Count Orduck @rcoobc @RedSRM @Ducklegs @Adebesi @NoWinNoFee @Marching sorry if I forgot anyone!