As the ‘yellow and black’ mist settles across Scotland and the ‘blue’ dust settles in England we can just see the ‘red rose’ of Labour reaching for new life. Unfortunately due to a messy leadership election, many in England are not really appreciating the red buds but are currently seeing just the thorns. Yet last week Chuka Umunna showed that Labour can rebuild a fresh new future that is progressive and patriotic. He showed insight into Labour’s problems by mentioning that England needed a collective voice.
However, before Labour supporters in England rush ahead of themselves, Labour needs to face some harsh home truths. One of those truths is that the Labour party is seen by many traditional Labour voters in England as not only being out of touch with them but as disliking them. This is because Labour has ignored the need for English self-governance while overly focusing on Scottish and Welsh interests for too long.
For example, during the general election many Labour supporters in England watched in utter amazement as the Scottish Labour party accused the British Labour party of having too much control over them. They were shocked because there was not even an English manifesto produced during the election, let alone an English Labour party to speak on their behalf. Instead of focusing on England the British Labour party at that time got overly involved in Scotland which in turn allowed the Scottish National party to ruthlessly exploit Labour and then crush them.
One way that the Labour party could start repairing that damaged English perception is to empower England again and create a meaningful English party. Not just some toothless English party like the Liberal Democrats have, but one that truly represents England and can bite into the Conservative hold in the south. Also by establishing an English Labour party they would expose the growing divide in the United Kingdom Independence party between the red ‘working-class’ Ukip in the North and blue ‘posh’ Ukip in the south.
But the British Labour party needs to act now before it is too late. Ukip and the Conservatives are already way ahead in expressing English concerns. Labour supporters need to imagine what that will be like in five years’ time if Labour fails to act now. By then the SNP would have pressed every button they can think of to annoy the English while the Conservatives and Ukip would have linked Labour to every SNP destructive action.
Embracing an English Labour party also would have the secondary effect of giving more autonomy to Scottish and Welsh Labour to develop their own strategies to outflank Plaid Cymru and the SNP. Let an English Labour party flourish and Scottish Labour could re-establish itself as the progressive voice of Scotland.
Labour would do well to remember that Conservative Unionists dismissed Scottish patriotism at their peril and became nearly electorally extinct in Scotland because of it but they had the south of England to fall back on to return them to power. If Labour dismisses English patriotism where will they have to fall back to?
Umunna’s words give Labour hope, as they are supported by the 2011 census. That census shows the way back to power for Labour as it identified over 32 million people (60.4 per cent) in England stating that they were ‘English Only’! If Labour shows that they care about their identity, then it need not be a generation of Conservative rule and SNP rule.
So, come on Labour, England needs its own red rose to bloom!
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Eddie Bone is campaign director of the Campaign for an English Parliament
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Yes, if the Labour party is to continue to exist – it is as bad as that – Labour now has to come to terms with England, as others besides Chuka, for example, Tristram Hunt, are recognising, belatedly. Osborne is busy taking Labour’s space but Labour can outflank the Tories on EVEL by promising to have an English Parliament with the same powers as the Scottish Parliament. Nobody believes that EVEL can work and the fractious attempts to introduce it and then apply will only serve to further disunite the UK. The people of England have just as much right to self-determination as do the people of Scotland, Wales and N Ireland. A federal system, with four devolved parliaments and a British Parliament (replacing the House of Lords) could well save both the Union and the Labour party.
I left labour and am now with the National Liberal party as it is the only party fighting for a Federal UK with an English Parliament. Other former supporters have gone to UKIP English Dems etc.
self determination is the core principle of the http://www.nationalliberal.org party as is English Parliament and a Federal UK
Here in Lancashire, I don’t think people want to elect (and pay for) ANOTHER assembly ruling them from London! Scotland, Wales, and NI have 1.5 – 4 million ppl each, totalling c10m. Rather than duplicating Westminster for the remaining >50m, go for regional government. The NE rejected it post-Iraq, but Labour should argue for this manageable strategic level to replace remaining county councils.
What about giving the English people, as a nation, a say. I get the feeling you want to impose your choice, without that awkward referendum-type thing to get in the way. Besides, who said an English parliament would or should be in London? If the English people decide to go for their own parliament (not that we’ll be asked), London’s the last place it should be. Manchester or York, for example, would be more sensible choices.
You and many other people do not understand that an English Parliament would not mean any addditional MPs but would consist of members for English seats as now, without any MPs from NI, Wales or Scotland who have their own national parliaments. We need then a federal assembly.,members drawn from the four national parliaments for matters of common interest such as coastal and fishery,and defence and international representation. No extra MPs, no extra expenses. As to where it should be, this long-awaited English Parliament, it doesn’t really matter at all so long as it is in England and represents the people of England.
In short, we need a federal state with weightings to even out the differences in sizes pf population,just as they have in USA, Australia,Canada and Germany.Seems to work there, why not here?
It’s even better that that because, if the House of Commons is in effect the English Parliament, the House of Lords, reformed, can become the British Parliament with say 200 members. We end up with fewer MPs, one tier less of English domestic government, and reform of the Lords (postponed since 1911). And we have a working federal Union.
Thanks for your thoughts. I have no quibbles with your suggestion. I just wish that more people in England would realise that England is in danger of being balkanised out of existence into a regional patchwork to suit the needs of and for the benefit of the three adjoining smaller lands.We must strive to ensure that this, and its attendant compliance with EU requirements, is avoided no matter what the cost.
Thanks for explaining things which I hadn’t heard in the national debate. Still think regional is a good idea; English identity isn’t as strong as the other nations (typically for a setup where one has dominated the others for centuries.
Do you think the English people should have the final say, like our neighbours in the other nations, or do you think regional government should simply be imposed on us without a referendum?
By the way, the 2011 census showed that more than 60% of us identified as English only. So much for the myth that there’s no strength of English identity.
What were the other options? (Sorry I can’t rember). Just ticking/saying ‘English’ may well be a feeling of different strength to saying ‘Scottish/Welsh/Irish’.
You didn’t answer my question about whether you think a system of governance in England should be decided by a referendum or by having what the British government tells us.
Haven’t decided.
Are you sure about this? English Patriotism? In the Labour Party when the current trend is for Corbyn? I remember spitting image when Thatcher became this wide eyed raving lunatic and this gives me the same feeling, Canute like you demand the tide to turn.
The problems for the Labour Party are many but a Saint George’s flag waving inward looking patriotism seems to be against everything the Labour Party has stood for and yet solves nothing as it would alienate still further core supporters in an attempt to lure a Middle England southern voter with their passing perception that immigration is the root of all evil and the Scots can go hoot. Far from progressive,which is European, international and globalisation you want to try to roll back to national boundaries. I seriously think you have either lost the plot or want to try to divide the Labour Party still further.
If you try reading the article properly, you’ll see that an inward-looking approach (I’d call it xenophobic, rather than patriotic, as patriotism and xenophobia are nothing like the same) is definitely not what Mr Bone is advocating. And Jeremy Corbyn is progressive? He was a dinosaur 30 years ago, so he’s still a dinosaur now. Whether we like it or not, we won’t see a Labour government if the party only caters for the union barons. We need to do what the ordinary people want the party to do, not what narrow (and narrow-minded) cliques want if we want to win again.
Comrade
Darling
I am struggling to understand your comments. Do you support the abolition of the
Welsh Labour Party and the Scottish Labour Party who speak out for the working
class in their nations?
Or is it just an English Labour Party that would speak out for the working class
in England that you oppose?
Why is English patriotism any more inward looking than say UKer patriotism?
It seems to me that you are suggesting that Labour should exploit the “differences” between North and South, surely this could result in a further division in England. We know that Labour want to do this so why say in one breath that you want an English representation and then create division, it makes no sense, perhaps you are giving them the tools to Balkanize England.
All the polls suggest that the people of England are fed up
with asymmetric devolution and want the political and constitutional
recognition afforded to Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. There is no support in England for
balkanisation and the Campaign for an English Parliament published the reasons
why EVEL has insurmountable problems nearly 10 years ago (written, I may say,
by a lifetime Socialist). A federal solution where each country is in equality to
each other and to the British government is the only democratic and equitable
answer and such a policy would be a vote winner for Labour
For a start – stop talking about ‘red’ roses.
The red rose of Lancaster.
The Tudor dynasty – the first fascists.
Then I suggest they start pushing for PR.
Their silence over the vote in Scotland is deafening.
If they really gave a fig for democracy they would be leading the charge for a ‘democratic’ Britain.
But they prefer to look the other way as 24% of Scots voters.
24% 0f their own voters got 1 seat between them.
If they sit back and accept that – they are a party who doesn’t know what the word democracy actually means.
They should leading the way openly and with passion for the introduction of PR.
And then they sit back and watch the lowest paid lose 14% of their income due to mass immigration and stay silent.
Not opposing the mass influx that is causing the greatest hurt to those Labour would claim to represent.
Hypocrites.
And whilst they sit back and watch local families and the lower paid miss out on social housing whilst it goes indiscrimately to immigrants – who have made themselves INTENTIONALLY HOMELESS in the case of those from th EU – they cannot expect any credibility particularly from the sincere and unindoctrinated ordinary working class people.
I’m pleased to see more and more in the media on this issue. The people of England have been force fed a British identity for too long, while any English heritage one might have has been undermined and framed as something to be ashamed of. The argument that wanting better for England is a fascist doctrine is so utterly tiresome these days – of course there are some who hold unpalatable views, every country in the world has a section of the population who believe that their nation is better than any other – but it strikes me that Mr Bone is coming from the perspective of equality for all the nations of the UK, and what could possibly be wrong with that? The concept that all forms of patriotism are ugly, in my view, is narrow minded and doesn’t take into account the large and increasingly vocal group in England who love their country (but not at the expense of other nations) and just want to be on a par with the our neighbours. It’s natural, fair and long overdue.
Unless UK Labour start to listen to the voice of England not one of the ” Four Contenders ” will ever be UK Pm. Jeremy corbyn sucking up to SNP will alienate large sections of English electorate
The People of England have the right to self-determination and the right to self-governance
In the EU Referendum 2 questions regarding England’s devolution should be added to the ballot paper
Should England become an independent Country?
Should England have an English Parliament with the 4 parliaments having equal grade of devolution aiming for DEVOMAX & Full Fiscal Autonomy?
#EnglishParliament epetition to @HouseofCommons https://goo.gl/W42nEi