29 February 2008
Prime Minister Gordon Brown should hold a root-and-branch review of English governance and the Barnett funding formula, the Institute for Public Policy Research said this week.
Its report, Where stands the union now? Lessons from the 2007 Scottish Parliament election, says just 22% of people in England support the idea of an English Parliament. But many want something done about public spending disparities and the 'West Lothian question', where MPs from Scotland can vote on English matters but English MPs cannot vote on business devolved to the Scottish Parliament.
Treasury figures for 'identifiable public spending' in 2006/07, which exclude areas such as defence, show that spending per head in England was £1,142 less than in Northern Ireland, £938 less than in Scotland and £524 less than in Wales.
IPPR senior research fellow Guy Lodge said there was not yet a backlash against the union. 'But it does suggest the need for the government to address the position of England within the union as part of their plans for further constitutional reform if it is to prevent disaffection within England growing.'
Another report, Beyond the constitution? Englishness in a post-devolved Britain, argues that the government has not paid enough attention to English national identity in the devolved UK or in debates about Britishness.
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