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    English devolution

    I think England should have devolved parliaments.
    Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland, and Cornwall should all have national parliaments, with their own First Ministers.
    My regions for England would be South East, South West, London, West Midlands, East Midlands, North West, North East, and Yorkshire.
    Each region could have a mayor or First Minister.
    There would be a English senate where each devolved region sends it's First Minister or mayor for national constitutional issues. With a 6 month rotating presidency as First Minister of England for each devolved region.
    England would then have a competition of ideas so the North of England could grow with policies set for their regions.
    Diolch

    #2
    English devolution

    Technically it's difficult to devolve something that was never taken away.

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      #3
      English devolution

      Sounds like an EU plot to divide and conquer Our England.

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        #4
        English devolution

        The exact structure in terms of representatives doesn't matter all that much if the regions don't have meaningful tax raising and other powers.

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          #5
          English devolution

          Devolution to the nine English regions (as they are already established, and have been for decades) makes an awful lot of sense. Most of them have similar populations to, as much economic power, and as much regional and cultural diversity, as Wales or Scotland. The North-West (Cheshire, Lancashire, Merseyside, Manchester and Cumbria) certainly does.

          Curiously, while this government has embraced the devolutionary principle that the Lib Dems pushed for in coalition, they've taken it down the path of cities, rather than regions. Manchester, London and Birmingham among others are being given autonomous powers to deliver a whole range of formerly central government services, and award contracts in their own right in areas like health, employment support, and transport. I don't know if that's because they feel they (the gov) can deal better with elected mayors, and their teams, than regional assemblies (which they've always shied away from establishing in the English regions).

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            #6
            English devolution

            I used to feel fairly strongly that there should be parliaments/assemblies either for England as a whole or for the regions separately, with equivalent competences to the Scottish one, as there's no rational case for Scottish interference in entirely non-Scottish matters.

            But, whilst the logic of that remains the same as before, I couldn't give a flying toss about it now. It is such a total bloody non-issue compared to the catastrophe of Brexit. Also, I feel almost ashamed to share a country with most of my fellow English-men and -women after the Brexit vote.

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              #7
              English devolution

              Rogin the Armchair fan wrote: Manchester, London and Birmingham among others are being given autonomous powers to deliver a whole range of formerly central government services, and award contracts in their own right in areas like health, employment support, and transport
              As you probably know the Greater Birmingham idea isn't universally popular up here (eg with the Black Country towns, Wolverhampton and Coventry).

              I don't know if that's because they feel they (the gov) can deal better with elected mayors, and their teams, than regional assemblies (which they've always shied away from establishing in the English regions)
              Pretty much. In the urban West Midlands the Mayor will be either a Labour hack (Sion Simon) kowtowing to business leaders, or a Tory who was CEO of John Lewis.

              And EE Gladstone has a point

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                #8
                English devolution

                Rory does know that Cornwall isn't an independent nation within the UK, right? He seems to think it's already its own entity.

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                  #9
                  English devolution

                  Cornwall is a funny one, constitutionally. It was never conquered by the Wessex Saxons - Athelstan specifically used the Tamar as a boundary between his lands and "neighbouring provinces" - and hence was never formally part of the kingdom conquered by the Normans. Cornwall is not part of the lands ceded to the king in the Domesday Book. The title of Duchy of Cornwall seems to have passed, possibly as a gift, to one of the English kings in the 1300s, but it is far from clear that in fact, if not in practice, it is legally part of the crown. As late as the 1500s Henry was referring to Cornwall as one of the lands he protected (not ruled). It's an interesting one, no matter what title the Prince of Wales wants to bestow upon his wife.

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                    #10
                    English devolution

                    Thanks Rogin. Thanks to that post I now know that my paternal grandfather's middle name was Athelstan. On my parents' marriage certificate, under 'Groom's father's name' is written Athelston, but on the back of the paper my father had written Athelston and Atholston in an effort to see which looked right. Apparently neither.

                    A quick google of his name with the correct middle name spelling has revealed his marriage certificate on Ancestry. Neat-o.

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                      #11
                      English devolution

                      It definitely needs to be done by regions. Northern England, for example, needs a way to raise money to build infrastructure that benefits itself and not just more stuff for London. Or that's what I read somewhere. It makes sense, though.

                      Giving cities more autonomy would also help, but they need a way to coordinate regionally too.

                      But, yeah, Brexit is such a clusterfuck that all of this is on the backburner. Need to undo that at all costs, I'd think.

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                        #12
                        English devolution

                        For some reason I love the idea of hot Pepsi. I might order that at Starbucks.

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                          #13
                          English devolution

                          Milk and Pepsi used to be a running thing on Laverne & Shirley when I was a kid, but I don't know a single person who ever found the nerve to try it.

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                            #14
                            English devolution

                            An ex girlfriend of mine had relatives who were Church of Christ and therefore stayed miles away from anything alcoholic. Apparently at Christmas they served hot Dr Pepper with lemon in it and claimed that it tasted just like mulled wine.

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                              #15
                              English devolution

                              How would they know?

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                                #16
                                English devolution

                                Doesn't sound very far off, tbh.

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                                  #17
                                  English devolution

                                  Gangster Octopus wrote: How would they know?
                                  I think that was the point: nobody would have the faintest idea, so they could serve something utterly bizarre and claim it to taste like an alcoholic beverage.

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                                    #18
                                    English devolution

                                    Budweiser is doing that right now with its Prohibition Brew.

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                                      #19
                                      English devolution

                                      I got a "Hot Pepsi" shirt. Not entirely thrilled by the layout, but it will have to do.



                                      It's not something I actually drink on a regular basis. Usually just when I have one of those 20 oz in the car, drink about half of it, park, forget I have it, come back after it's been in the sun for a long time and figure, oh well. But it's usually Diet Coke.

                                      However, I can tell you that hot lemonade (our definition) or gatorade is good when you have a cold and a sore throat.

                                      Comment


                                        #20
                                        English devolution

                                        I keep thinking that you're Hot & Peppy.

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