Friday, February 17, 2006

Letter: Shropshire Star

No MPs to battle for rights of English

Eric Boyden asks why English patients have to wait longer for cancer treatments than Scottish patients.

To put it bluntly, in the eyes of the British Government an English life is worth less than that of a Scot or any other nationality.

Scotland and Wales get quicker treatment because their governments pay for it.

Not only do they get the quicker treatment but they also get treatment that English patients can’t have at all because of the cost.

The Scottish and Welsh governments are able to offer expensive treatment because of the very generous block grant they receive every year thanks to the Barnett Formula.

The Barnett Formula is a calculation that is used by the Chancellor to work out how much English tax should go to subsidise the rest of the country.

Scotland alone receives an extra £11.3bn per year from the English taxpayer.

For the system of government that gives democracy to the minority (15 per cent of the population) and actively discriminates against the majority, we can thank Tony Blair and the Scottish Raj.

The only form of self-governance the British government are prepared to concede to England is regional assemblies

Scotland and Wales only get this preferential treatment because their governments fight for multi-billion pound subsidies from English taxes.

They only get away with this because there is no English government to fight for our interests.

British MPs elected in English constituencies put Britain before England so they aren’t going to put a stop to it.

Ask David Wright what he thinks about the current arrangement.

I did and he doesn’t see a problem with Scottish MPs deciding what happens in England, even when his own constituents’ lives are at risk.

Stuart Parr, Telford

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