CEP: I'm dying for an English education
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Thursday, 14, Jan 2010 11:55
Even before all the British political parties have finalised their manifestos for the forthcoming General Election, they are not disguising the fact that they are going to continue treating the people of England as second class citizens. Not once have we heard the word 'England' mentioned by any British political party, even though the parties have spoken about policies on the Health Service and education, which they know could only apply to England. If this is the new political policy for regaining the trust of the English people after all the shenanigans of the present corrupt government, then we should have a lot to fear from the next one.
England will continue to suffer at the expense of the devolved nations. Depending on which party is elected to form the next government, England's children could face 'slavery' or the orphanage with the prospect of their parents becoming heroes, England's elderly face the prospect of having to sell their homes to get care, England's sick will be allowed to go blind or will have to be terminally ill in order to get free prescription drugs, England's council tax will continue to rise; yet not one of these policies will apply to the Scots, the Welsh or the Irish, because they have their own parliaments that stop such policies being forced on them.
Gordon Brown, the leader of the Labour Party, Prime Minister, and England's unelected 'First Minister', said that his clear expectation is that all the young people of England will be made to do community service (the like of which is now reserved for criminals) which would be linked to a 'clear system of accreditation', meaning that children who refuse to take part in this 'slave labour' scheme would be marked down or fail their Citizenship exams.
Because of costs, Nick Clegg's Liberal-Democrats party has now dropped its worthwhile policies for the English Health Service and for education (without mentioning 'England') that would have gone a long way to right the wrongs against England. This party, like all the British parties, obviously considers the quality of an English life to be less than that of a Scottish, Welsh or Irish one.
It is hard to find out what is likely to be in David Cameron's Conservative party manifesto but what we do know is that the Conservatives have gone one step further than any of the other British parties on England's higher education policy. This party's policy on English education shows the contempt all the British political parties have for our nation; at a time when it is being reported that one in five of our troops are not fit to fight in Afghanistan, partly because of mental illness, this party's education policy tells England's servicemen and women that if they get themselves killed the British will fund their children's university education, which is tantamount to asking them to commit suicide in order for their children to get the same provision of the free education the British already provide for Scotland's children.
These British policies for England do nothing to bring the Union together but go a long way in breaking it apart.
John Stanhope
Campaign for an English Parliament
14 January 2010