Cut Scotland loose – then we’ll have a fair voting system

Interesting article from the Times. Wholeheartedly agree with the writers idea and it could really work.

‘Wow,” said a wide-eyed young Liberal Democrat voter babe, staring over my shoulder on Friday at a coloured election map of Britain. “England is, like, totally blue.” How true. Huge swathes of England are Conservative. And, she noticed in the next instant, Scotland is, like, totally red and yellowish gold. Only one single constituency north of the border is blue.

As Alex Salmond of the Scottish National party said in the wee hours of Friday, it is “overwhelmingly clear” that Scotland does not want a Tory government: “I don’t believe they’ve got a mandate to run Scotland from fourth place.” Again, how obviously true. Yet, equally obviously, the Tories have got a genuine mandate to run England.

Last week’s strange election has convinced many voters that our electoral system needs reform. That question will be central to negotiations between party leaders this weekend as they compete for power in these impotent times.

While the psephological sophisticates discuss the arcana of proportional versus alternative voting, I have a simple suggestion that might have democratic appeal all round. And it would not stand in the way of any other electoral reform. It’s simply this: we Sassenachs must say no to the Scots. We must accept that we are united by geography but divided by politics: we cannot vote together any longer.

The reason is again blindingly obvious. As Nick Clegg has pointed out, David Cameron’s Conservatives got the most votes and the most seats. As Cameron himself pointed out, his party got a higher share of the vote than Labour achieved at the last election, when Blair won a majority of 66.

This remarkable Conservative success was won despite the enormous disadvantage that Tories (and Liberal Democrats) suffer from the way constituencies are currently divided, so that they must win far more votes than Labour to win as many seats, as voters now appreciate. Yet despite their success, the Conservatives cannot form a government. Although Labour got a disastrous drubbing, Gordon Brown is still in Downing Street and Clegg, whose political bubble burst, is to be kingmaker. This is, like, so totally wrong.

Look to the map and towards Hadrian’s Wall for both reason and solution. Cameron got 306 seats (against Brown’s 258), just 20 seats short of an overall majority. But Brown’s 258 included 41 from Scotland (out of 59 Scottish constituencies). Without these Scottish seats, the Labour party would have got only 217 to the Conservatives’ 305 and Clegg’s 46 (to which he would be reduced if he did not have his current 11 Lib Dem seats in Scotland).

This injustice could be put right simply by saying politely to the Scots that we would like to separate, psephologically and politically. Let them run Scotland their own way. They are perfectly well equipped to do so. They could even turn themselves into a rich tax haven, a mini Switzerland, given their wealth of world-beating financial services, lawyers and golf courses.

They already entice the super-rich with their castles and grouse moors. And they have their oil wealth, insofar as it belongs to them, their deep-sea ports, their shipbuilding, their IT, their magical Highlands and islands, their arts festivals and an abundance of game, fish and marketable tourist tat.

The Scots have two highly developed important cities and several great universities and medical schools; their intellectual and entrepreneurial tradition is second to none. They don’t need us.

Nor do we need them. Above all, we would be much better off without the notorious Barnett formula; it is obviously unfair that the Scots should receive more public money per head than the English, especially when their taxes and benefits are so different. Let them get on without us.

All the talk during this election about mandates and the people’s voice means little if politicians are still unwilling to admit to the glaring Scottish democratic deficit. At the end of 2006 a famous ICM poll found that 52% of Scots wanted independence from Britain, but also — startlingly — that 59% of the English favoured separation from Scotland. As far as I know there have been no polls about this thorny issue since.

Personally, I have never quite understood the sentimental attachment to the union. Its historical and political underpinnings are clear enough and so much blood and anguish have been spent on the idea of the union that it’s perhaps disrespectful to make light of it. All the same, those emotional ties are weakening and, according to the 2006 ICM poll, particularly among the young.

That may, of course, be because they study so little history these days, but equally it might be a feeling, shared by me, that the union is a political construct whose time is over. The growth of the European Union and this country’s general decline — and perhaps multiculturalism as well — all mean that it is hard to rally fervour round a concept such as a United Kingdom. United we aren’t. And kingdom means less and less, especially to those on the political left.

Years ago I lived and worked in Hong Kong (then still a crown colony) and was at first astonished to hear Chinese people constantly talking about something called “Yoo Kay” and how they longed to get proper Yoo Kay documents. It was several days before I realised they were talking about my country and several weeks before I realised that many of them had no idea what the Yoo Kay was like, or what the initials stood for. It was just the third-best place to go, if you couldn’t get to California or Vancouver — a bit of a disappointment, really.

I love Scotland and have spent many happy summer holidays there. But I can’t help noticing that the Scots don’t love us; some actively dislike the English. The time has come for an amicable divorce, making Scotland no more than a good EU neighbour.

Obviously there would be practical problems, as in any divorce. Defining who is Scottish and who is not (for voting purposes, if nothing else) might be one. But all of these problems could be overcome if there were a mandate to do so. I suspect there is. And that would be, like, so totally super.

Election 2010: Battle for votes enters last 72 hours

Well it is nearly time for the people of England to get their voices heard, the tale of the polls is still putting the Tories in the lead but with the probability of a hung parliament.
All indicators are pointing toward a Con/Lib coalition if that happens, Labour looks like they will be hung out to dry. Some say it is nothing more than they deserve.
Will the coalition work? No one can really say.
From the BBC News Web site:

Labour, the Conservatives and Lib Dems are into the final three days of election campaigning as polls suggest the result is still in the balance.

The Tories are ahead in the polls but not by enough to get a majority – David Cameron says they will campaign through the night in a final push from Tuesday.

But Labour said the Tories “blew” their lead early on and have not won it back.

Gordon Brown, Mr Cameron and Nick Clegg are spending the bank holiday hitting key seats they hope to win on 6 May.

Three days before the closest election since 1992, an ICM/Guardian poll puts the Conservatives on 33%, Labour and the Lib Dems on 28% while a YouGov poll for the Sun puts the Tories on 34%, Lib Dems on 29% and Labour on 28% – which continue to point to a hung parliament.
We can win this election
John Denham
Communities Secretary

BBC News Channel chief political correspondent Laura Kuenssberg said despite the final TV debate and Mr Brown having to apologise after being overheard calling a pensioner “bigoted”, the polls had not really shifted over the past week.

In Blackpool on Monday, Mr Cameron said there was not “one ounce of complacency” in his campaign and pledged a through-the-night campaign in which he is expected to meet fishermen, bakers and florists who work in the early hours of the morning.

He said: “We’ve still got everything left to do. We are going to be campaigning incredibly hard in the last three days, including a 24-hour campaign from Tuesday night right through to Wednesday night, travelling the whole length and breadth of the country.”

On Sunday he said his party had the “momentum” – and was criticised by Labour’s Lord Mandelson who said Mr Cameron was “desperate to give the impression that he is home and dry” but in fact voters were “firmly resisting his soft soap campaign”.

Mr Brown is in Basildon, Essex on Monday morning while Mr Clegg is in Blackheath, south-east London.

Communities Secretary John Denham denied that Labour was fighting for second place in terms of the number of votes cast.

He told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme that the election would be decided “overwhelmingly” in Labour-held seats across Britain in which there were a “clear majority of people who don’t want a Conservative government on Friday morning”.

Minority government

If they recognised that voting Lib Dem could “let the Conservatives in” then Labour “can win this election on Thursday”, he said.

Conservative sources dismissed as “speculation” newspaper reports that Mr Cameron has ruled out a coalition with the Liberal Democrats, if his party fails to win enough seats to gain a working majority.
I think we’ve got some momentum now to go through these last few days
David Cameron

The Daily Telegraph and the Guardian both report that the Tory leader would attempt to form a minority government instead, with the support of Unionist MPs.

Senior Conservative sources, quoted in the Guardian, say Mr Cameron would set out his plans and “dare” Labour and the Lib Dems to provoke a second election this year by voting down the Queen’s Speech, planned for 25 May, or an emergency budget in July. The Conservative leader has not spoken publicly about any possible post-election deals, stressing instead his determination to win an outright majority on Thursday.

Equalities ‘contract’

The Conservatives are expected to set out plans later for new rules aimed at forcing listed companies to hire more female directors, proposals to close the gender pay gap and set up mentoring schemes for female and ethnic minority entrepreneurs.

In a “contract for equalities”, Work and Pensions spokeswoman Theresa May will say: “A Conservative government will use every lever to tear down the barriers that are holding too many people back. We will make Britain a fairer society for all.”
The Conservative Party will never reform the banks and rebuild our economy because they are completely in hock to the City of London
Nick Clegg

Labour leader Gordon Brown is also expected to stress his commitment to fairness as he hits the campaign trail in marginal seats.

The Lib Dems will turn their fire on the Conservatives later on Monday, claiming the party has become “nearly four times as dependent on the City of London” for its funding since Mr Cameron took over as leader.

Lib Dem leader Mr Clegg will say: “The Conservative Party will never reform the banks and rebuild our economy because they are completely in hock to the City of London.

“Only the Liberal Democrats have a positive plan to put money back in the pockets of ordinary people, close the unfair loopholes for people at the top and take on the banks so they never again hold a gun to our heads and put ordinary people out of work,” he will add.

Days after the final live TV debate, the three leaders will also all appear on the same platform again – although not at the same time – when they address a CitizensUK election “assembly” of about 2,500 people in London.

Each will speak for 10 minutes before taking questions from a panel about “civil society”.

Lets hope that you all make the right decision.
Do we really want another five years of Labour?
Will the Tories do a better job?
Will a coalition government ever work?
How will an independent candidate help my community?
Will a small party help my family have a better life?
Many questions that you have to ask yourself, and only you can give the answers to them.
The Warrior’s only advice, and favour I ask of all you English Patriots out there is this.
Please vote English Mp’s.
Vote with your heart. Vote for your country. Vote for England.