The CEP Blog points us to an intriguing article by Ian McWhirter, which suggests that English nationalism might finally be about become a force on the left.
If it happens that Scots are seen regularly to be imposing unpopular policies in England that are not being imposed on Scotland, there could clearly be trouble — not least in the Labour Party.
It’s not the Tories who will be up in arms but dissident Labour MPs such as Bob Marshall Andrews, Jeremy Corbyn and Paul Flynn — even Robin Cook, who is himself a Scot. They will start to see the Scots as a Blairite fifth column, dabbing cotton wool on the bloody nose they inflicted on the Labour leader in the election. The long-awaited English backlash might finally arrive. But it will come from the Left rather than the Right.
As I pointed out recently, the most rebellious Labour MPs sit overwhelmingly for English constituencies. They have good reason to be concerned about the anomaly that McWhirter highlights. After all, the net result in the last Parliament was the imposition of top up fees and foundation hospitals against the wishes of English MPs.
Leave a Reply