1replying to: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EzzHIZmA-xc&lc=UgxtL573C0anlkhVhvd4AaABAg
Please set up an English Labour party. This allows for Labour to engage with England and be patriotically English and also stops any future Labour UK Government from conflating England and Britain (an anglocentrism that damages the Union).All the polling says that England doesn't want regional government. That's been the case for 20 years despite Labour, the Greens and the Lib Dems advocating for it. That should tell you everything you need to know about that policy. Scrap it and start referring to England as a nation rather than 'the regions'. England is a nation. Got that? A nation. Remember it.You won't beat the Tories on the sort of anglo-centric British nationalism (England as Britain, Rule Britannia, Land of Hope and Glory, God Save the Queen) that they specialise in, that's their turf. You need to speak to a modern, liberal, cosmopolitan Englishness without coming across as opposed to more traditional, socially conservative attitudes to identity. The way to do this is to not be proscriptive about it but to be pro-English by recognising England as a demos and a source of political authority and sovereignty. Embrace democracy and recognise that it is up to the English to chart England's future (we've had enough top-down piecemeal, Westminster bestowed initiatives). Devolution to Scotland and Northern Ireland was on the basis of popular sovereignty (and implied in Wales), so why not do the same for England? Have citizens' assemblies and a constitutional convention and engage the people of England - as a constitutionally sovereign people - on how they wish England to be governed. This would be seen as Labour recognising English nationhood in a way that it has failed to do previously (even though the party has long recognised Scottish and Welsh nationhood), and it would legitimise the resultant democracy.I expect the result would be an English parliament AND devolution to cities and counties. Too often devolution fails partly because it is seen (and sold) as an alternative to 'whole England' solutions, in opposition to England. The governance of a nation should not be an either/or choice between representative democracy at the national level and representative democracy at the local level, and there is no reason why England should be any different to any other nation in that respect.Labour do not have to be scared of an English parliament. It would not, as some commentators suggest, result in a permanent Tory majority. For a start it wouldn't be FPTP, so should be seen as a way of introducing a more proportional system. Secondly, Labour tend to poll better on devolved portfolios (Health, Education) that would be the work of any new English parliament. Thirdly, this would be a parliament representing a discrete English identity, not the Anglo-centric Britishness that the Tories specialise in.Go for it English Labour. England needs you!P.S. And we'll have a day off on St George's Day (Shakespeare's birthday) and Jerusalem as the English national anthem.
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