THE CASE FOR ENGLISH INDEPENDENCE

In the following article English nationalist Matthew Roberts makes a powerful case for English independence. Do you agree or disagree with him? Please use the comments section below the article to tell us your views.

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On the 18th September 2014 the people of Scotland voted 55% to 45% against independence after a long and sometimes antagonistic campaign by both sides of the divide. Just two days before the people of Scotland cast their votes in the referendum, the leaders of the three unionist parties – David Cameron, Ed Miliband and Nick Clegg – made a public ‘vow’ to give Holyrood more powers. Mr Cameron promised the day after the referendum that if he won the 2015 general election he would deliver on the ‘vow’.

The general election saw the Scottish National Party win 56 of Scotland’s 59 Westminster seats, which prompted party leader Ms Sturgeon to pledge that her MPs would provide the loudest ever voice for Scots in the House of Commons. Indeed, the SNP now believe that they are the only real effective opposition to the Conservative Party, with New Labour having taken a hammering in the general election.

The Queen’s Speech (which takes place after all elections) of 2015 demonstrated that the ‘vow’ to Scotland discussed prior to the referendum had indeed been kept by the incoming Conservative Party. The Scottish Parliament will now be able to raise 40% of taxes and decide on 60% of public spending. There are a number of other devolved powers that the Scottish Parliament will receive, including new welfare powers worth £2.5bn. The people of Scotland now have a devolved Scottish Parliament with its own Executive, First Minister and almost full control over how it shapes the future of Scotland.

We must remember that Wales too has its own assembly with a number of devolved powers and there are promises by the new government that there will be a further devolution of powers to Wales, including more powers over energy, transport and local government elections in Wales.

Northern Ireland has control over areas such as agriculture, education, health and social services, economic development and the environment with further devolution of powers in the pipeline.

Many commentators have suggested that the present constitutional settlement in relation to devolution is grossly unfair to England. The English people indeed are the only people in the Union who have no dedicated political representation. It must be remembered that there is no English government or parliament, no devolved English assembly and therefore no one to speak up for the people of England or represent their interests. The unfairness of the present constitutional discrimination against the English has been recognised by David Cameron who wants to introduce ‘English votes for English laws’, thus ensuring that only MPs representing English constituencies could vote on legislation affecting England alone.

However, what does this mean in practice? English laws will still be proposed by a British government and scrutinised by a House of Lords containing members from across the UK and abroad. There will be no administration devoted to English affairs and British MPs will still vote on British party lines. It simply ends up being a blocking device which can be used by English MPs to stop laws that they do not think are suitable for England. Why can’t England be treated like the other constituent parts of the UK? Why not an English assembly like Wales? Why not devolved powers like Northern Ireland? Why not an English parliament with an Executive, First Minister and devolved powers like Scotland? Why not indeed?

The British government and the establishment afford England no recognition as a legitimate nation. In many ways they have made every effort to keep England invisible, and discriminate against the people of England at every opportunity; indeed one gets the impression at times that the British state would like to abolish England, e.g., by breaking it up into regions. Many British politicians have expressed their contempt for England and the English and they are very anxious that England should not assert her identity.

Let us explore the arguments in more detail.

It is a matter of fact that the British state refuses to acknowledge that England is a nation like Scotland or Wales. One can discuss whether these are true nations, but it is very clear that if that designation is afforded to both Scotland and Wales then it surely must be to England also.

No other nation is delegitimised and deconstructed in the way that England is. The English are constantly told that there is no such people as the English or that they are just a ‘mongrel race’, a nation of immigrants. The question, ‘What does it mean to be English?’, is constantly thrown at anyone who identifies as English, in a way that it would never be thrown at a member of any other ethnic group. Have you ever heard of a multiculturalist MP asking Pakistanis to explain what it means to be Pakistani?

The British state also, clearly, has no problem promoting Scottish and Welsh identities and indeed celebrates these; however there is no focus on English identity or English culture. Scottish and Welsh children are rooted in their respective heritages in a way that English children have not been for a very long time! English children must make do with British identity rooted in a make-believe multicultural past. These developments, to be fair, are also now taking place in both Scotland and Wales, but these nations have a lot of catching up to do before their children are ideologically manipulated to the extent that English children are.

Whilst Scottish and Welsh nationalism is actively promoted, English nationalism is characterised as ‘racist’ and ‘xenophobic’; it’s seen as the preserve of the ‘far Right’.

This position is summed up by MPs who hate England. For example, Jack Straw made the comment that the English had used their “propensity to violence to subjugate Ireland, Wales and Scotland”. He also described the English as “potentially very aggressive, very violent”.

William Hague stated that “English nationalism is the most dangerous of all forms of nationalism that can arise within the United Kingdom because England is five-sixths of the population of the UK.”

Leaving aside the factually incorrect nature of Jack Straw’s statements, no British politician, including Straw and Hague, would ever make these kinds of statements about any other ethnic group in Britain. Would Jack Straw boldly state that blacks have a propensity to violence, given the statistical realities of violent black crime? Would he or Hague boldly state that Muslims have a propensity to violence?

It is only the English that can be talked about in this way. It has become totally acceptable amongst the middle class metropolitan elites to castigate the English, and they simply do not care what impact these statements have on the collective dignity and psychological well-being of English men, women and children. These politicians are quite willing to undermine our collective self-esteem whilst all the time going to great lengths not to offend minorities – especially Muslims!

Mass immigration into England is actively encouraged by the British state and very few of these immigrants identify as English. They adopt a British identity, as do their children, and it is almost always the case that these immigrants and their descendants will vote for British rather than English political movements.

As long as the British state remains, England will continue to be subjected to second class status within the Union and the people of England subjected to the abuse meted out to them by the likes of Hague and Straw. The English need to develop a sense of Englishness again if things are to change and begin to assert themselves in the way that the people of Scotland and Wales have done in recent decades. Thankfully, there are signs that this is starting to happen. Research by the Institute for Public Policy Research, “The Dog that finally barked: England as an emerging political community” (2012), shows that more and more people living in England are rejecting British identity and simply identifying themselves as English. The authors also point out that there is emerging what might be called an “English political community”. This is clearly a response to the gross injustices of the devolution settlement and the privileging of the other constituent parts of the UK, especially Scotland.

Many English people are asking why the people of England must pay ever increasing prescription charges whilst people north of the border don’t pay anything! English people want to know why lifesaving cancer drugs are available in Scotland but not in England. They want to know why more money is spent in Scotland per head of population than in England and why this privilege is paid for by the English taxpayer via the Barnett formula. They also want to know why Scottish MPs can vote on matters affecting England (e.g., the introduction of student fees) but English MPs cannot vote on matters affecting Scotland. Many English people are beginning to wonder whether we would be better off without the Union!

I think the English people may be right. I believe that the Union is effectively over. The SNP will use its position in Westminster to manoeuvre for another referendum in the not too distant future – regardless of what Sturgeon and co. are saying at the moment – and I am convinced that if this is held within the next decade Scotland will vote for independence. The English must now seek a constitutional settlement that reflects the interests of the people of England. They must demand either a devolved English parliament with exactly the same powers as Scotland within a federal UK, as long as the union remains, or they must vote for independence.

An independent England would mean automatic withdrawal from the European Union and the closing of our borders. It would mean withdrawal from the Human Rights Act. In an independent England we could start the process of deporting all illegal immigrants immediately. We could start an effective process of de-Islamisation and stop all funding to politically correct anti-English bodies. In an independent England we could start an English cultural revolution, re-establish the teaching of English history in our schools and promote English heritage and English folklore. In an independent England we would deconstruct cultural Marxism and sack all cultural Marxist English-haters for crimes against our children and young people – in particular, the crime of denying them their culture and heritage. We, the people of England, would have a voice again and those who hate us would be strongly advised to leave this kingdom!