In politics, stupidity is not a handicap

Napoléon Bonaparte

From Wikipedia we learn that Pandora’s box is an artifact in Greek mythology, taken from the myth of Pandora’s creation in Hesiod’s Works and Days.The “box” was actually a large jar given to Pandora which contained all the evils (or is that Evels) of the world. Today the phrase “to open Pandora’s box” means to perform an action that may seem small or innocent, but that turns out to have severely detrimental and far-reaching consequences.

When Tony Blair decided to offer Scotland devolution as part of his 1997 general election manifesto it may have appeared a small step, but it was by no means an innocent step in that it can be argued it was done for political gain: and it sure as hell turned out to have severe, detrimental and far-reaching consequences. When an ‘enslaved’ people are eventually granted one small freedom we know that they will never be satisfied until they have total freedom from those they consider their oppressor(s).

What we are witnessing today, with the latest attempt to solve the West Lothian Question, is yet another decision taken by a politician, or group of politicians, with no apparent forethought, nor any attempt to think through what the consequences of their decision may be. When Blair promised devolution to Scotland and Wales, he did so, I believe, knowing full well the consequences of his action, but also that it mattered not as he would be long gone before the excrement hit the ceiling mounted air circulation device – and the current lot and their thinking are no different where excrement and air circulation devices are concerned.

The question of equality twixt England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland has now polarised into an argument twixt Conservatives and Labour: Hague’s proposals and Labour wanting a constitutional convention – and both are designed to maintain some element of central control by London and its political class, while at the same time ‘kicking the issue into the long grass’ and thereby postponing a decision that must logically be made in the long term. On the subject of polarisation of political views, one only has to watch the following:

If we look at anomalies that may arise, an example from Mark Wallace on ConHome:

To appreciate the problem, consider the following scenario. Labour, with a majority in the UK as a whole but not in England, propose a law to restrict bin collections to once a month. English MPs could block such a law from applying to England. But if the Conservatives, with a majority of English MPs, then tried to introduce a Bill guaranteeing weekly bin collections in England, Labour would be allowed to use its UK-wide majority, including Scottish and Welsh MPs, to vote the law down – even though it would not affect those MPs’ constituents. In short, England would still not be self-governing.

or this from Gordon Brown:

Can you imagine Scotland volunteering to send MPs to Westminster indefinitely if it becomes clear that the UK government of the day owes its survival to an English majority who could veto the government’s tax policies even when that government can command a majority in the UK?

(source)

Confused? Well you may be because those causing confusion are totally confused in their aims to solve what is presently an unsolvable problem while the present system of democracy and politics is allowed to continue.

In Hague’s speech (for a resumé see here) he said of his proposals:

First, the control of the detail of legislation and an effective veto are essential to giving real effect to English Votes for English Laws. With such procedures in place any government will know it cannot impose legislation on England without taking full account of the views of a majority of MPs from England.

The second is that it is an option that maintains the integrity of the United Kingdom Parliament. Parliament would continue to function with Members deliberating and voting together. Scottish, Welsh and Northern Irish MPs would continue to participate and vote at Second Reading, Report and Third Reading. But they would not be able to pass a motion concerning only England without the support of English Members. So crucially, this option enhances the Union, as Westminster will clearly remain a UK Parliament.

Third, it is the option most easily employed to bring democracy and accountability to a wide range of issues. For example, we recognise that the level of spending on health or local government in England is a legitimate matter for all MPs, as there are consequential effects on spending in the rest of the UK. But it is unarguable that the distribution of spending within England is a matter that applies only to England. (source)

Integrity of Parliament? Any integrity that Parliament may have had was lost when Parliament agreed to subsume this country into what is now the European Union. Any integrity that may have remained was lost forever on the occasion of the skewed 1975 referendum. Hague’s statement that the option being proposed was the most easily employed to bring democracy and accountability to a wide range of issues is laughable; if only because true democracy does not exist in this country and there is no accountability of our politicians to the people – in that regard, is not Tony Blair, Gordon Brown and John Major (et all) still ‘at large’?

Astute readers will have spotted the one omission in all that has been said and written on this subject of equality twixt the nations that comprise the United Kingdom. That omission is the people – where is their voice in all this? If the distribution of spending within England is a matter that applies only to England, then should not those it will affect and who will be providing the funds for said distribution have a voice in both where and how it is spent; rather than it be left to ‘representatives’ who will no doubt argue the question along party lines for an interminable time?

Parliament can remain a ‘UK Parliament’, but only on those matters which affect the country as a whole. As I have maintained previously, this micro-management of our lives based on a one-size-fits-all is not a viable proposition as it will never produce what the respective political classes in each nation appear to want and, more importantly, that to which the people of each nation are entitled: their voice, their self-determination and thus self-rule or self-government, at those term’s most basic level.

If politicians truly believe they are servants of the people and not their masters, that they truly do wish to devolve power to the people, that they do believe in ‘democracy’, then a solution to their – and our – problems is available.

That at least would save us from this particular ‘faux opera’ (but one of many) which involves people attempting to solve problems within a problem – and which are unsolvable due to the self-imposed constraints within which they attempt to work.