The British system of government has for many years been one of the most centralised in Europe. Many more matters are decided at the national level than in Germany or Belgium, for example, where an effective level of regional government has been established.
Recent years have seen steps towards regional government, notably in Scotland and Wales but also on a smaller scale in England. But treating regional and national authorities as representatives of Westminster rather than representatives of the people in the areas concerned does not really change very much.
A federal system would be much better.
In England, some form of sub-national authorities (perhaps the existing regions, perhaps something else) would be directly elected and exercise clearly defined powers. Most of these powers would be drawn from those currently exercised by Whitehall. Such a system could bring the citizens closer to the decisions which most affect their lives. The power of distant bureaucrats would be reduced.
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Latest Contributions
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The centralising curse of UK Treasury rules
By George Irvin Britain’s public finance is highly centralised by the standards of the European Union and the OECD. The degree to which tax revenue is centralised is far higher […]
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Fifty one votes to one
I took part in a debate with leading anti-European John Redwood on Thursday evening in his parliamentary constituency, Wokingham. (You can read my speech here.) We started off a little […]
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Parliament for the English?
I see that Conservative leadership contender David Davis has renewed the call for only English MPs to vote on English-only matters in Parliament (reported on BBC News Online here http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/4424370.stm). […]