English Parliament in the hands of the SNP

Letter printed in Glasgow Herald 18th May

Many of your correspondents quite rightly point out that there are many more "English" MPs in Westminster than Scots, Welsh and Northern Irish ones, and therefore they could create an English parliament whenever they like. Technically, that is true, but as everyone knows, MPs invariably follow party lines.

Labour does not want an EP as its devolution system is, in its eyes, perfect and, if one were created, it might break up the Union, putting many of its top people out of a job. The

Conservatives, for reasons best known to themselves, are also obsessed about preserving the Union and do not want to do anything that might lose them their "fingertip" presence in Scotland.

The LibDems, to be fair, might well support the idea, but then anything that gives them the faintest whiff of power appeals. Their long-standing policy, however, has been to integrate fully the UK into the Euro superstate as assorted regions.

Although the SNP and Plaid Cymru are seen as nationalists, any similar party pursuing similar aims in England would have many people squealing "racists", a word some of your readers have already used.

Therefore, the creation of an English Parliament is, ironically, probably in the hands of the SNP. If it does well in May 2007, then the Scottish-led Labour government in Westminster will be left facing stark choices which naively it thought would never occur under its devolution settlement.