Disunited Kingdom

We want an English Parliament in order to get a body that represents England with a remit to look after England’s concerns just as the Scottish, Welsh and Northern Irish Parliaments look after their own people’s concerns.

The SNP has made a fresh call for the release of Scotland’s hidden devolution files in the interests of fairness and transparency in the debate on Scotland’s independence referendum in 2014.

Landscapes made famous by some of Britain’s greatest artists are in danger from development, conservationists fear, after top judges gave the go ahead for 170 houses in countryside once painted by Sir Thomas Gainsborough.

As part of their on-going commitment to public discussion, the Academy for British and Irish Studies at the University of Huddersfield and the Politics Studies Association Britishness Specialist Group are sponsoring a debate on the Future Governance of England on Thursday 28th February 2013.  It will bring together two leading proponents who will offer alternative solutions to current English constitutional dilemmas. 

If anyone still thinks Monmouthshire's "a part of England" – 21.8% of the population considered themselves wholly or partially English. Judging by the numbers in the Gwent Valleys – also part of the former county of Monmouthshire – it's probably best the English Democrats stay away from canvassing there. They would be better off trying Connah's Quay and Mold instead. However, I suspect Flintshire isn't "nice" enough to be annexed.

Anti-English hatred is the default position of the SNP, so it is no surprise when the party shows its true colours, writes Michael Kelly

Steve Uncles, of the English Democrats, believes in ‘shock politics’. The idea is that you say something outrageous, controversial or just plain stupid in order to get your words noticed. The problem is that it takes both skill and intelligence. Mr Uncles has ‘read-a-book’ on how to do it but…..

His latest is an attack on the Irish, all Irish just because they are Irish it seems.

Scotland is facing a disproportionate cut in European structural funds thought to be worth about a quarter-of-a-billion pounds, SNP ministers said.

The issue of whether England should have its own parliament is mainly a matter for English people. But a Scottish unionist can, of course, be interested in political developments in the rest of Britain. Being both Scottish and British, whatever happens in England is a matter also for me. England, after all, is a part of my country, the UK. Moreover, whatever happens in a part of the UK tends to influence everyone else no matter where we live.

A new policy proposal was written and was given the seal of approval by UKIP Wales who think it's a rehash of the half-backed Grand Committee idea where British MPs elected in England, Scotland, Wales and NI would come together for a few days a month and make British laws for their own countries under a gentleman's agreement that they won't interfere in each others' affairs.  The policy is somewhat further reaching than that and I suspect that nobody who's seen it so far truly understands the (positive) unintended consequences.

Unelected Labour peer, Lord Adonis, is spearheading yet another campaign for the destruction of England by regionalisation.

The NFU launched a “Buy British” campaign today to promote “British” food. Funnily enough, there is no mention of the campaign on the NFU Cymru website or the NFU Scotland website where they are encouraging people to buy Welsh and Scottish respectively.  The NFU England website … doesn’t exist because there is no such thing as NFU England.

Flying a flag is a political act. It means something, even if we cannot always explain quite what it is or why it is important. It is more blood and guts than bloodless theorems, and it can imbue a place with an identity and dignity woven from the diverse and sometimes imperceptible threads of a shared heritage.

Harriett Baldwin questions the Deputy Prime Minister on his position regarding the West Lothian question and English-only legislation with English-only votes.

A 48-home development at Greenway Lane was approved by district planners last week under delegated powers.

I’m disappointed to have come to the conclusion that the union is holding back England, which is a genuinely impressive economic powerhouse, from reaching its full economic potential. Crucially, I am not convinced the Union offers the majority of the population value for tax. On the other hand, I believe the Union provides important and valuable benefits to the people of Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, and culturally to England, which currently outweigh the economic drag on the nucleus of the Union. It must be more than simply having become accustomed to one another’s faces which keeps us around the table. A genuine analysis and restatement of the utility of the union to the peoples of Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland needs must be made now in order to show this value – or we risk losing the empathy and support of the English.

The British State has set aside £50m of taxpayers money to celebrate the centenary of the commencement of the Great War in August 2014. This seems deliberately designed to compete with or obscure the anniversary of Bannockburn. Why would anyone celebrate the start of such a bloody war?

"We recognise the current arrangements for paying for social care are outdated and need reform. While Andrew Dilnot's report relates to England, this is an issue of vital importance for people in Wales and the rest of the UK.

Reading what has been stated as ‘legal and constitutional exactitude’ in the UK Government’s statement on the legality of Scottish independence I was quickly attracted to two key fallacies Annex A paragraph 95 makes about the legal and constitutional status of the people of Scotland and its supposition Scotland ceased to exist at the time of Union..

There followed a number of audience contributions that addressed an English parliament, a lack of a specifically English politics, the relationship between national identity, ethnicity and class, whether London is different from England, and if Conservatives are better at speaking to suburbia and Englishness.