tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7985429043801017839.post283136133475097972..comments2023-10-27T07:50:27.411+01:00Comments on Next Left: We need an English Labour identity, argue Cruddas and DenhamTom Hampsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05917325958130851128noreply@blogger.comBlogger5125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7985429043801017839.post-78630621771465863742010-10-06T21:53:10.805+01:002010-10-06T21:53:10.805+01:00All the mainstream parties claim to be committed t...All the mainstream parties claim to be committed to decentralisation and localisation, and Jon Cruddas and some others in the Labour party are (rightly) worried that the party has nothing to say about England's distinctive identity and nothing to say to increasingly scratchy English nationalists increasingly drawn to the far right. No-one in the Labour party, or indeed in the other mainstream parties either, offers any answer to the West Lothian question.<br /><br />The hippopotamus in this tense living-room is the failure to extend devolution to England. A few clear-sighted politicans at Westminster probably realise that once all four of the UK nations (ie including England) exercise extensive devolved powers, the UK becomes a federation -- and a necessary consequence of that is a massive transfer of powers from Westminster to the four national parliaments and governments, leaving the House of Commons (together with the successor to the House of Lords) and the Westminster government with only very limited functions -- basically foreign affairs, defence, and co-ordination of all-UK matters that transcend the borders of the four nations. It spells the end of the myth of the sovereignty of the Westminster parliament.<br /><br />All this has a raft of significant consequences: a new parliament and government for England, a written constitution defining the powers of the two tiers, endowment of the Supreme Court with powers to interpret and enforce the federal constitution, transformation of the House of Lords into a federal Senate, negotiation of a framework for revenue allocation, and much more. It will take two decades at least to complete, with at least one Royal Commission, two Constitutional Conventions, several referendums, a Speaker's Conference, and extensive legislation. No wonder our timorous politicians shy away from it: too radical, too long-term, too difficult. The cowardly excuse is that there's no demand for it. But Labour's new leader says that politics is nothing if not about leadership.<br /><br />There is no other way to address the numerous anomalies currently generated by our semi-federal, semi-unitary, grossly over-centralised, unfinished devolution process. Full devolution -- meaning federation -- is the key to decentralisation and localisation, both from Westminster to the four nations and within each of the four nations. Anything less is a patently inadequate Elastoplast that will fall off in the first hot shower. Let's just hope that Labour will be the first party to wake up to this challenge and to transform it into an opportunity. What about it, Jon? Is it too radical for you, Ed?<br /><br /><b>Brian</b><br /><a href="http://www.barder.com/ephems/" rel="nofollow">http://www.barder.com/ephems/</a>BrianBhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14787952058849504425noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7985429043801017839.post-4021847426825259192010-09-26T23:33:14.889+01:002010-09-26T23:33:14.889+01:00This comment has been removed by the author.Alexhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14929509373840313459noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7985429043801017839.post-47847615697310020182010-09-26T23:32:52.828+01:002010-09-26T23:32:52.828+01:00I have quite a bit of time for Cruddas, but here h...I have quite a bit of time for Cruddas, but here he edges onto the precise problem of his current stance, without actually realising it. Sure, one needs these visceral issues of sentiment and tap into a mood of moral reform and so on. But he is completely right, read Blair's speeches from the early 90s or from his book <em>My Vision For A Young Country</em> and you see precisely these kinds of languages come up repeatedly - don't forget he brought community into the modern political landscape in a major way. The problem is the end of it, and its reflection in actual policy was a rampant form of neoliberalism, the talk of community is window dressing that challenges the powerful not one jot. The same is true of Cameron today. And the same was true of David Milliband's stance which Cruddas got behind - while the rhetoric was in Cruddas territory and so were the move towards community organising (see the Keir Hardie lecture) the actual policies were fairly indistinguishable from Blair-era New Labour and in some instances the Government, not to mention his attitude towards organised labour (see the Labour leadership Question Time) and the war. One cannot rely any more on empty talk of values, but must make attempt to think institutions, laws and structures within and outside the state that embody these values of justice, equality, compassion, fraternity and so forth. Talking about values is cheap, sticking out your political neck to try and construct these values in the actual world is expensive - saying no to corporations rather than finger-waving, creating strong laws rather than voluntary codes, recognising and defending unions as a legitimate defence of those with limited power and the strikes which go with it, being prepared to replace internal markets with internal democracies and so forth. Right now, I don't see anyone doing that, yet.Alexhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14929509373840313459noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7985429043801017839.post-82976751967356685302010-09-26T20:29:45.009+01:002010-09-26T20:29:45.009+01:00The Labour Party hates England . How can you chang...The Labour Party hates England . How can you change what simply is Thats why it wanted to chop it into regions,sell it to the EU and dilute its ethnicity.Newmaniahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11922161971821380803noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7985429043801017839.post-61400732588004521392010-09-26T19:05:04.058+01:002010-09-26T19:05:04.058+01:00I agree with the need to connect with sentiment. T...I agree with the need to connect with sentiment. The experience in the ex-Yugoslavia for example shows you can suppress such feelings for decades - but they will never disappear. Better to channel them productively than force them underground. The key issue of course is to channel them sensitively rather than allow them to fall into the hands of demagogues. <br /><br />Or, indeed, force us into such acrobatic acts of triangulation that all common sense and justice are lost in the battle for media approval.Milhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10762731886478125217noreply@blogger.com