Jack Straw's description of the Conservative policy of "English votes for English laws" as "narrow English nationalism" demonstrates his willingness to adopt the tactics of the playground bully, by replacing intellectual debate with name-calling.
Labour's partial devolution settlement aimed to ensure that only the Scots voted on Scottish matters and only the Welsh on Welsh matters. This was meant to salve years of rancour caused by the fact that neither Scotland or Wales felt they had democratic control over their own affairs. At the time, Labour politicans were adamant that this was not a matter of "narrow nationalism"; it was an essential requirement of a functioning democracy.
England, by contrast, is in democratic meltdown. For England to find herself with a prime minister whom no one in England has elected, and without an executive or parliament, is an affront to democracy. In a post-devolutionary British state, it is absurd to have ministers managing English departments who have not been elected by the people of England—Douglas Alexander, for example, MP for the Scottish constituency of Paisley and Renfrewshire South, has total control over English transport, yet has no power on transport issues in Scotland.
Simon Lee, in his excellent "Best for Britain?", comments: "The legacy of the 'British way' is to have denied the citizens of England the liberty for all, responsibility from all and fairness to all that Brown has identified as the defining characteristic of Britishness. The historical and literary example Brown has used to substantiate it actually points towards the possibility of an alternative 'English Way,' based on an inclusive civic identity and a devolved and more plural approach to politics, policy design and resource allocation." It is the emergence of such an "English way" that so terrifies Labour.
The "bogus Britishness" of Brown and Straw fools no one. It is a cover-up for the indefensible situation England now finds herself in. Straw and Labour are on the back foot. A phoney Britishness won't stop the emerging English national consciousness, and if he truly wants to preserve the union (rather than break it) then England must have her own parliament within a truly federal United Kingdom.
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