Nobody wants an English Parliament?

I knew it was too good to be true when I started reading this article by Geoffrey Wheatcroft in the Guardian.

It started off so well, an explanation of the cynical, self-serving motivation of Labour’s devolution settlement to their Scottish and Welsh strongholds. He touches on the disgraceful gerrymandering of English constituencies that allowed Labour to win 94 more English seats in 2005 than the Conservatives even though the Conservatives got 50,000 English votes more than Labour.

But the whole article is spoilt with this one line:

No one wants an English parliament, and the Tories are barking up the wrong tree when they propose differential voting for Scottish MPs

Yes, the Tories are barking up the wrong tree with both English Votes on English Legislation and the latest watered down version, English Pauses for English Clauses. But no one wants an English Parliament? Wheatcroft has obviously done his research to get all the facts and figures he’s quoted so it’s either laziness or a deliberate misrepresentation to claim that nobody wants an English Parliament.

The last two independent opinion polls that the CEP commissioned showed that between 67% and 68% want an English Parliament. Compare this with the referendum that was used to establish the Welsh Assembly: a 50% turn-out and 51% in favour - much less than the high 60’s that our independent polls have shown support an English Parliament.

If you want an English Parliament, you can email Geoffrey Wheatcroft and let him know. You'll find his email in the Individual Targets.

( Source The CEP Blog)