English Votes for English Laws

Sir

So student fees are to be abolished in Scotland just as English graduates are facing debts of up to £30,000 (report 14 June 2007)?

Perhaps when Gordon Brown becomes Prime Minister later this month without being so elected by either the country or his Party, he can explain to the bewildered voters of North Warwickshire the following.

Why is it that:

1. North Warwickshire voters and taxpayers must accrue debts of up to £30,000 to attend university, while Brown’s constituents do not?

2. North Warwickshire voters and taxpayers cannot receive the cancer drugs Tarceva, Velcade, Alimta and Gliadel on the (English) National Health Service, while Brown’s constituents can do so on the (Scottish) National Health Service?

3. North Warwickshire voters and taxpayers cannot receive the Alzheimer’s drugs Aricept, Exelon and Reminyl until they are showing advanced symptoms, while Brown’s constituents can receive them before their condition deteriorates.

4. North Warwickshire voters and taxpayers facing the onset of blindness as a result of macular degeneration cannot receive the drug Macugen, while Brown’s constituents can.

5. North Warwickshire voters and taxpayers suffering from brain tumours cannot have their lives extended by the drug Gliadel, while Brown’s constituents can.

6. North Warwickshire voters and taxpayers face losing their homes to pay for long term care when they hit old age, while Brown’s constituents are entitled to free long term care for the elderly.

7. North Warwickshire voters and taxpayers must pay for basic eye tests, while Brown’s constituents receive them for free.

Given the imbalance between Government services provided on either side of the border, you would expect the English taxpayers to be charged less by Mr Brown. But of course, the opposite is true. For this second rate service English taxpayers have paid through the nose in stealth taxes, while the annual subsidy paid to Scotland from England has doubled to £2,200 per head since Labour came to power.

But of course, disgruntled English taxpayers can always vote against Brown to show their displeasure, can’t they? No they can’t, not directly. Thanks to Blair’s botched Constitutional meddling, Brown can heap ever higher taxes on English voters safe in the knowledge that his Scottish constituents will continue to vote for him.

That's why a Conservative government will introduce English Votes for English Laws.

Taxation without representation? Revolutions have started over less.