DAVID CAMERON MAY FAIRLY BE ACCUSED OF DOUBLE STANDARDS: ONE FOR WALES, A VERY DIFFERENT ONE FOR ENGLAND

Addressing the issue of the demand being made in Wales for a referendum to be held among its people for the Welsh Assembly to have law-making powers equivalent to those enjoyed by the Scottish Parliament, Mr David Cameron, leader of the Conservative Party, speaking on Friday November 6th, said he would support it if the Welsh Assembly voted for it. 'It is a very significant statement,' the National Council of the Campaign for an English Parliament has declared. 'We welcome it. The very foundation stone of our cause is that the three historic nations of this island should stand in the same relationship to the United Kingdom Parliament and to each other. Unless and until that happens, the Union is severely constiutionally unbalanced and tainted by gross unfairness and discriminatory inequality. One nation, Scotland, should not have advantages within the Union denied to Wales and England. That situation naturally suits Mr Gordon Brown who was the driving force behind the 1998 Devolution legislation because it favours his country. However, such narrow nationalistic bias is no way to run a Union of nations.

'Mr Cameron is aware that whether or not such a referendum may take place is a decision reserved to the United Kingdom Parliament. He is aware that the UK Parliament can only consider it if it is backed by two thirds of the Welsh Assembly members. That is a high obstacle to clear. To date Mr Brown's party has fiercely opposed it. Mr Hain, an MP for a Welsh constituency though not a Welshman but a South African, who was the Welsh Secretary till he had to resign the office when facing charges of abusing the Commons regulations regarding his financial affairs, has spoken against it. It is a strange state of affairs where Mr Brown to achieve Scottish devolution made the outcome of the 1998 devolution referenda dependable on a simple majority but made such a fundamental demand as this for Wales possible only if a two thirds majority is achieved. The Celtic brotherhood is obviously a rather wobbly and unreliable assocation. However, if Mr Cameron keeps to his word on attaining the Prime Minister's office, which after his retreat from his promise of a referendum on the Lisbon Treaty is now always a matter of some doubt, it might encourage Conservative Party Welsh Assembly members to vote for it.

'However', states the CEP National Council, 'Mr Cameron has never shown the same concern for England. Scotland was given a referendum about having its own parliament and self-rule in all matters of state internal to it; Wales was given a referendum about having its own assembly, though, as Mr Brown saw to it, with far less powers. Mr Cameron would now support a referendum for Wales to get the powers the Scots have if two thirds of its assembly vote for it. But he opposes England having its own parliament whatever its powers. He opposes England having a referendum on the matter. His attitude is one of gross unfairness and discrimination. Until and unless the three nations of this island stand in the same relationship to the Union Parliament and to each other, it is an unfair, discriminatory and dangerously unbalanced Union'

Contacts:
Michael Knowles
CEP Unit.Media Tel: 01260 271139 email: michael-knowles@tiscali.co.uk

We must not forget that it is the British that are denying England its political recognition, the British MPs we have sent to parliament to represent England, it is these who are to blame. Until we have our own English MPs not British MPs representing England nothing is going to change.