A denial of self-determination

From the Conservative manifesto:

"Labour have refused to address the so-called ‘West Lothian Question’: the unfair situation of Scottish MPs voting on matters which are devolved. A Conservative government will introduce new rules so that legislation referring specifically to England, or to England and Wales, cannot be enacted without the consent of MPs representing constituencies of those countries."

Of the 532 seats contested in England on May 6 (a final seat will be contested on 27 May), the Conservatives won an absolute majority with 61 seats more than all other parties combined, and secured an average swing of 5.6% from Labour.

The English have clearly voted for self-determination, and the proposed 'progressive coalition' is nothing but the proposed denial of the English right to self-determination and the democratic expression of the English voters.

Whoever you voted for, wherever your normal political loyalties lie, you should be outraged by this.

Inversion of democracy

Daniel Hannan has been blogging about the prospect of a hung parliament.
This is something I've discussed in the past too.
It is beginning to irk me that the direct democracy movement - a movement I have a lot of sympathy with, and which Daniel Hannan and Douglas Carswell claim has a lot of traction in the Conservative party, is ignoring the place of England in the direct democracy framework. It is simply an inversion of the principles of localism and direct democracy to ignore the current democratic deficit in England, to talk about taking decisions at the lowest possible level and still have Westminster, in the guise of the British parliament, holding powers over England that have already been devolved to the other nations of the United Kingdom.

Can we get an English Parliament? Yes Witan!

Labour's campaign poster

Following on my spoof Conservative campaign poster, here is one for Labour.

Create your own at mybillboard.net.

Can the English get Independence? Yes Witan!

An election poster you won't see

I don't think this one will be appearing on billboards anytime soon. But as Obama almost said 'Can we get democracy for England?... Yes Witan.'

You can make your own poster here.

Why 2010 is so important... (part 1)

You may have seen Iain Dale's prediction for the 2010 election.
He is predicting a narrow Conservative majority of just 12 seats. Amazingly, this corresponds almost exactly to the number of seats he is predicting the Conservatives will win outside England (13).
If his breakdown is correct, the 'United Kingdom Government' will have just 9 out of 40 seats in Wales and 4 out of 59 seats in Scotland. This will give them virtually no democratic mandate to rule the whole of the UK, and rob the UK of any claim to legitimacy as a unified state. Their power will rest almost solely on winning 318 out of 529 English seats.