So, why don't the English get a say?

Diposkan oleh Zainal Arifain

So, the leaders of the main parties in Westminster are to have 3 debates settled over Sky, ITV and the BBC. Of course there are rumblings of discontent from minority parties particularly the SNP about how unfair this is, though to be honest the SNP are never going to be the majority party in Westminster, though at least they have the decency not to vote on matters pertaining only to England.
Yet as a sop the minority parties in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland are to have their own debates, yet there's one glaring omission and that is of course England.

BBC.
The BBC and Sky have promised to hold separate debates between the parties in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.
But the SNP and Plaid Cymru have attacked their exclusion from the main UK-wide prime ministerial debates as unacceptable and undemocratic.
SNP leader Alex Salmond says he will fight it in the courts if necessary.
The first of the 90 minute programmes, with Labour Prime Minister Gordon Brown, Conservative leader David Cameron and Lib Dem leader Nick Clegg will be on ITV, the second on Sky and the third on the BBC.
ITV's Alastair Stewart will host the first, Sky's Adam Boulton the second and the BBC's David Dimbleby will host the third debate.
Now I don't have a problem with the minority parties in the other parts of the UK having a debate, though as I've pointed out they are unlikely to hold a majority in Westminster, but the same could also be said of the Lib Dems too. However the exclusion of England from any such debate rankles quite a bit. Yes any such debates would probably involve the same political parties as the main debates however it would be interesting for say Gordon Brown to answer questions directly pertaining to issues that he has foisted on the English that are devolved to the Scottish Parliament and he has never had to answer to his own constituents over. The main debates will be on UK issues, they wont be on English issues and with no comparable debate for the English as there is in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, this strikes me as terribly wrong.

Some people believe that Westminster is the English Parliament, they are wrong, Westminster's remit is to the whole of the UK. People point out that the majority of MP's are English, yet fail to see the voting goes on party lines, not national and again debate tends to run on what's best (in the eyes of the politicians) for the UK, not necessarily for England. England is effectively disenfranchised from the political process, even our current PM can introduce English only bills knowing he wont have to answer to his constituents for the resulting changes yet he and his Scottish MP's can smugly vote to force such legislation on my country, they have in the past and until it's resolved they will again.

These debates probably wont change much, yet they show to England's nationalists just how powerless we are and so our anger grows, this can't and wont go on forever, but the main parties as well as the media still choose to ignore us, the end result will probably be messy, but that's often the case where people who don't get a say finally demand one, and yes, we will finally demand our say and I doubt anyone outside England will like it much if it's allowed to fester as it has for much longer.

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