Home page You can't fool all of the English, all of the time ....or, on how to stand the West Lothian Question on its head and try and get away with it. During the 1970s preparatory debates in the House of Commons concerning Scottish devolution, Tam Dalyell raised two important questions (see: What was the West Lothian Question, and why is it important? in the index) which basically questioned the fairness of having Scottish MPs decide Scottish affairs in their own parliament and yet remain able to influence decisions in Westminster affecting English affairs. This was a very important question. But it must be said that all British MPs failed to respond to this sane question in the honorable and transparent fashion it deserved but continued in their irresponsible fashion of placing their party before country. As a result the United Kingdom now faces an emerging constitutional crisis. However, more damagingly, the New Labour creed and their aparatiks have grabbed the logic of the West Lothian Question but have turned it on its head to create a tactic for increasing the power of the Labour Party. This Orwellian double-think is an insidious process has been graced with such misleading titles as constitutional reform or devolution. But Tony Blair is likely to go down in history as the man who did more to destroy the United Kingdom and, in particular, do much to harm England, all in the name of securing Labour Party power. The tactics used by the Labour Party have been to select regions where the Labour Party has a majority of MPs and try and provide them with some form of devolved representation. By combining these assemblies with the New Labour invention of cabinet government for local government, then the dealings between local governments, central goverment cash, who gets what, who is favoured who is excluded is all hidden from public view because of cabinet secrecy. In this way New Labour seeks to buy its way into the future by consolidating a power base built on a corrupt and far from democratic system. Naturally, any member of New Labour would vehemently deny any such dirty tricks but on such questions the tactic used by those wishing to detect any such intent has been to wait a little and see what New Labour has done. The table below shows the first five targets the Labour Party "chose" for devolution. Quite coincidentally they happen to be the very regions where Labour has their main majorities. New Labour's less than subtle targets for destroying England's free will Region Number of Labour MPs % of total % electorate support outcome Scotland 41 69% 24% succeeded Wales 29 72.5% 26.7% succeeded North East England 28 93% 30% stalled Yorkshire & Humberside 44 78.5% 25.7% stalled North West England 61 80% 25.9% stalled As can be seen from this short list, sure enough, the Labour Government have attempted to favour regions which have clear Labour majorities. These regions contain 57% of the Labour MPs. On the other hand, whereas over 80% of the MPs returned from the last three English Regions were from the Labour Party they received votes from less than 27% of the electorate. This in itself raises questions as to the issue of the relationship between votes received and legitimate representation. Labour has delivered devolution in Scotland and Wales and the West Lothian Question continues to remain unanswered. New Labour wish to repeat the formula with the North East, North West of England and in Yorkshire & Humberside. The outcome, if successful, would be a gradual break up England into Labour-dominated fiefdoms within which command and control of central government and local government funding allocations remain in the hands of minority status Labour aparatiks protected by cabinet secrecy. The sheer brashness of this plan, clealy founded on a visceral desire for power at all costs, placing party over country, is unacceptable, especially for England and the English. It is time that the feeble opposition takes account of this and raises relevant questions, but more importantly, propose effective action. Unfortunately, the lack of clarity on these questions in declarations by the main opposition parties calls into question their fitness and preparedness in serving the interests of the English in the 21st Century.