What If England Seceded From The UK?

Scotland voted to stay in the United Kingdom. But now some of the English are thinking maybe they should secede. The other members–Scotland, Northern Ireland, and Wales–have their own parliaments and can vote on their own local issues. England, though, just has the one centralized UK Parliament in London.

That means the Scots, the Irish, and the Welsh, all of whom have big representation in London, can vote on measures that affect England, but not vice versa. For example, Scottish lawmakers in London voted to impose university tuition costs on England, though, thanks to the Scottish parliament, tuition is free in Scotland. Some are calling for a separate English parliament, creating something of a federalist system. Others are suggesting that the UK Parliament allow English-only votes on English-only issues.

From Following Scottish vote, attention in Britain shifts to rights for the English – The Washington Post:

Just a month after the United Kingdom survived a near-death experience when nearly half of Scots voted to secede, the focus of British politics has rapidly shifted to that other hotbed of churning nationalist discontent: England.

The English, genteel as they may appear, are in an increasingly foul mood, irked by what many see as a sweetheart deal for the Scots that will come at England’s expense.

In quaint towns like Chelmsford, where residents amble past tearooms outfitted in Victorian finery, calls are rising for England to have a greater say over its own affairs, with some even questioning why England should remain in the United Kingdom.

“It’s time,” says Robin Tilbrook, leader of the English Democrats, a fringe party that advocates an end to the United Kingdom, “to get rid of the historical rubble.”

That’s still an extreme position, held by a small minority. But from Prime Minister David Cameron on down, politicians are pushing plans that would migrate power in England away from a central government representing all four nations of the United Kingdom and toward representatives elected solely by the English. . . .

Unlike the United States, where no single state dominates, the United Kingdom has a fundamentally imbalanced union, with four nations composing the whole, but one — England — making up 85 percent of the U.K. population of 64 million.

That has long meant English dominance in the British Parliament, much to the consternation of the union’s other three component parts — Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. To address demands for more control over their own affairs, each was granted its own assembly or parliament in 1999.

But that process — known here as “devolution” — was haphazard, with the three national bodies enjoying differing levels of authority. And it left the English as arguably the most disenfranchised people in the union, with no national legislature to call their own.

At the time, there was little appetite for a greater English say in governance. But that’s changed in part because of the bite of austerity, with growing resentment among the English that other parts of the United Kingdom get a higher proportional share of government spending.

“People in England feel they lack a voice. They lack a way of saying what they think, and having people listen to it,” said Charlie Jeffery, a political scientist who co-wrote a recent study of English politics that found widespread discontent with the status quo.

The problem of how to represent the English has simmered for years, but the Scottish vote brought it to a boil. Hours after the Scots opted to stick with the three-century-old union at the core of the United Kingdom, Cameron was in front of cameras at 10 Downing Street saying he would push for devolution not only for Scotland but for England as well.

Bernard Jenkin, a Conservative member of Parliament who represents an area of east England not far from Chelmsford, said the reform is needed to address the “unanswerable unfairness” of Scottish, Welsh and Northern Irish members of Parliament getting a say over English laws, but not the other way around. . . .

The quirk has had real-world implications: Scottish support has enabled the British Parliament to impose tuition fees on students at English universities, even as Scottish universities remain tuition-free.