England the 'unfinished business' of devolution say MPs
Unfinished: England still needs devolution reform
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Sunday, 24, May 2009 12:01
By Jonathan Moore
There is still a need for "fundamental change" in the governance of England, a committee of MPs said today.
After ten years of devolution the committee found England was stuck in a "pre-devolution time warp" while the rest of the country had moved on.
There was serious criticism for the Barnett formula which the committee found was in dire need of reform and "no longer fit for purpose" and urged the government to publish its position "as a matter of some urgency".
In its report Devolution: A Decade On the justice committee said that while there was consensus on the need for a change to the devolutionary formula, there was no clear answer as to what that change should be.
"There is no consensus about solutions to the 'English question', or the range of questions which arise under that heading," committee chairman Sir Alan Beith said.
"But England, which has 84 per cent of the population, is the unfinished business of devolution-stuck in a pre-devolution time warp, while the rest of the UK has moved on. The funding formula is also a relic from earlier times, taking no account of the current need of the various nations and regions of the United Kingdom."
The committee found there were a number of solutions presented as possible alternatives to the current system but none appeared to provide a definitive solution to the problem.
Some called for the creation of additional devolved parliaments such as an English one or several based on the English regions while others have sought to redress the problem of the West Lothian question with English-only votes in parliament or a reduction in the number of Scottish and Welsh MPs.
"Each suggested answer has its own problems and limitations, and while some attempt to address issues around centralisation, others attempt to address the West Lothian question," said Sir Alan.
"Those which deal to any major extent with the West Lothian question, like an English parliament and English votes for English laws, raise significant problems in a state where one of its constituent territories has 84 per cent of the population".
The Barnett formula, which was subject to particular criticism by the committee, is a system of wealth distribution based on population rather than need or contribution for Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.
The committee's conclusion was that it was "no longer fit for purpose and that reform is overdue". The system has been consistently condemned for providing much higher per capita public spending in Scotland despite a far more pertinent need in deprived areas of England and Wales.
Even its creator, Lord Barnett, has lobbied for a change in the system.
In January this year he told a Lords' investigation, which he pushed for: "I was worried that the formula will so upset people in England that they will demand a separation which, in my view, will be hugely damaging, as I have no wish to see the UK split into three separate countries.
"I thought it didn't seem fair and therefore should be reviewed, with a view to seeing what changes were needed and what these changes should be."