Self-rule for Sassenachs is a dead duck
12 March 2006
There will not be an English parliament, "not today, not tomorrow", proclaimed Lord Falconer, the lord chancellor, as if he were nipping a dangerous separatist movement in the bud.
Opinion polls indicate that the English tolerate Scottish and Welsh devolution. But they don't want England to be 'compensated' by having their country chopped up into a bunch of bureaucratic, soulless regions. Even the ballot for a regional assembly in the northeast of England where there really is a local identity was overwhelmingly rejected in 2004 by 78% of those who voted, despite (or because of) John Prescott's endeavours.
The affection for the union persists (north and south of the border); south of the Tweed so does an attachment to the status quo. In fact, as befits the bigger country, England lacks a national inferiority complex about its neighbours and, according to another of the speakers at the devolution conference, Professor Robert Hazell [Ïã¸ÛÁùºÏ²Ê Constitution Unit], is "pretty relaxed and generous towards Scotland and Wales".
Jenny Hjul, 'Sunday Times', 12 March 2006