Letter to MP: Ask English people before deciding English Devolution!

In the last two weeks before Scottish Independence, lots of promises were made about further powers being transferred to Scotland.  And following their "No" vote, we're now being told UK residents of England will be given devolution... whether we like it or not.  Another letter to Bob Goodwill is in order!
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Dear Mr Goodwill

I guess that you have delayed responding to my letter of 8th September (repeated below) until after the Scottish Independence Referendum, in which we now know - to our great relief - that Scots have voted to stay within the United Kingdom.

However I am very disquieted by the subsequent discussions on devolution of further powers from Westminster to Scotland, England, Wales and Northern Ireland, even *still* without any talk of rUK (and particularly residents of England) so much as being asked for their opinion!

Summary:

• I am in favour of localising waste-of-money activities (such as all spending on Welsh and Scots Gaelic)
• I accept regional spending priorities should be facilitated (they already are: free university education in Scotland, for example).
• I'm dead against devolving any power which allows different regions to compete against each other (such as having lower tax rates)
• I'm opposed to an English Assembly, or any other new layer of bureaucracy: it's enough to prevent MPs voting on matters which are devolved in their constituency.

Here's are my views:

1. Giving Scotland further devolved powers is not by definition a bad thing, but they must not be at the expense of the Union. During the Referendum Campaign, the important fact that the Scottish Assembly has never used any of its existing tax raising powers, was barely even whispered. I never heard the pro-independence campaign challenged on why they want more powers when they're not using the ones they've already got.
   
   But as an example, unlimited tax raising powers pose no major challenge to the rUK economy, and different spending priorities should be fine (we already have these). On the other hand, the ability to reduce tax below rUK rates would be a major harm and must not be entertained.
    
2. In response to any further devolution from Westminster to Scotland, I am very much worried by the suggestion of an English Assembly, another attempt at English Regional Assemblies, or any further layer of costly and efficiency-sapping bureaucracy. I already have a representative to the Westminster Parliament, and even though I may doubt that any of my correspondence has ever influenced your opinion or vote, I have at least the opportunity to participate in the democratic process.
   
   I am also very concerned that David Cameron's promotion of an English parliament are ill-motivated to the purpose of obtaining party advantage.
    
3. What I do agree needs to be addressed is the narrow confines of the so-named West Lothian question. But even then, rUK voters need to be reminded that the over-representation of Scottish MPs was addressed in 2005 when Scottish representation at Westminster was reduced by 13 seats.
   
   The remaining issue is simply to formalise a rule that MPs do not vote on matters which are devolved in their constituency (a practice which I suspect has long been self-imposed by MPs serving Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland). I recognise that there could be some issue of a Scottish Chancellor deciding budgets for - as an example - Education in the UK which are only binding in England; but it's not a matter I dwell on. The population share in England is such that if English priorities are not seen to be met, the party will simply be out at the next election: that's the imbalance to Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland which is answered pretty neatly by the regional assemblies.

What are your views on the devolution debate?

Spend no more public money on Welsh Language!

The UK appears to have been forced into 'devolution debate' following the Scottish Referendum "No" vote.  It has made me think about public expenditure which really should be devolved.  Key among those: Welsh and Scots Gaelic.  I contributed feedback to this blog article which was justifying the cost supporting the Welsh language.

Here's my take:

1. In the 2011 census, 8,248 said they speak Welsh as a first language.  There are apparently no figures for people who only speak Welsh.  All the rest are essentially hobbyists.  Sure, for plenty of people there will be a commercial advantage of speaking Welsh, but this derives from prejudice and discrimination, and should not be supported by public money.  If anybody seriously struggles with their communication in English, our investment efforts should be to help them improve their English, not to provide services to them in Welsh.  (I don't say that all such people should necessarily speak English... if they never have cause to communicate in a non-Welsh language environment, no problem!)
    
2. By the count the blogger, public funding of Welsh language costs £150m per year, half of that being for the Welsh language TV channel, S4C.  The channel costs around 209% of Welsh speakers' total license fee contribution (notwithstanding that S4C is probably a small part of most of those users' consumption of BBC services).  And S4C popularity is actually dropping!  It's fine to have a commercially viable Welsh language channel, funded by subscription and/or advertising, and if necessary subsidised by volunteer effort.  But there's no justification for public funding.  And much of the programming seems to be aimed at children, which is to say that its publicly funded propaganda for promoting Welsh language learning.
    
3. So the other £75m is presumably in translation services, additional cost of Welsh language public services, Welsh language signage, etc.  What a complete waste of money for a population which speaks English as its main language!  Of the 8,248 people who claim to speak Welsh as their first language (it would be a reasonable supposition that some may have answered so just to bolster statistics) presumably most speak English satisfactorily as a second language.  And as for the people who only speak Welsh, if I counted the number of those people who seek access to on-line services such as public websites translated into Welsh, would I need to take off my socks to count on my toes?
    
4. Here's the really important stuff: the net worth of Welsh language skill to the UK GDP is surely approximately zero, and yet its cost in squandered resources must be huge.

• Cost of teaching Welsh language (the actual cost of teaching; the cost to pupils' careers and to GDP of teaching Welsh rather than an economically useful language such as French, German, Spanish, Japanese or Chinese)
• The dead weight to the economy of supporting the Welsh language sector.  We can think of it like this: taking the £150m/yr figure: average Welsh full-time pay is £28k.  So that's 5,357 who are consuming all manner of public services but whose jobs are not contributing to GDP.  That effect continues, because assuming 25% consumption of public services (for example), that's 1,339 people servicing the original users, 335 people servicing the servicers, etc.  (Hey, this dead weight isn't unique to Welsh language: think of the Personal Injury Claims Industry, for example!)

You might conclude that I'm anti-Welsh language, but I wouldn't say so.  I just think that almost all of Welsh language activities should be paid for by the people who consume them:

• Welsh language should not be taught in state funded schools
• S4C should be a commercial channel (subscription, advertising or combination)
• We certainly shouldn't be translating websites into Welsh.  Heck, many countries have to tough-out much of their internet experience on English-language sites despite not living in an English-speaking country.  Why on earth are we paying people to translate websites from a language in which they are already fluent?

And its not just an issue for Welsh.  £12.4m is spent supporting the Scots Gaelic channel, Alba.  

Why is my money being spent on this?  For these kind of things devolution was made!

Letter to MP about our relationship with Scotland, in the event of a vote for Independence

Dear Mr Goodwill

In 10 days time, Scots may vote for independence from the rest of the UK, in a referendum in which we have no part.

If they should choose independence, I'd like to know your opinion about how it should happen. Here are some of my own strongly held views:

1) Scots should pay the full cost of independence: none of the costs associated with it should be left with the rest of the UK (rUK) to bear. We bore no part of an independence decision, we should bare no part of the cost of implementing independence.

2) We've been told by George Osborne that rUK will not enter into currency union with Scotland. That's fine as long as it happens that way. If a currency union should ever come on to the negotiating table, it must not be implemented under any circumstances without a referendum of rUK. We have a guarantee that no sovereignty will pass to the EU without a referendum, and it must be the same for sovereignty passing to an Independent Scotland.

3) It has been suggested/threatened by the Independence 'Yes' campaign that if rUK does not share the British Pound, they will not take a share of the National Debt. Given that threat, it must be written-in to the Independence Agreement that either their share of the debt is paid, or else it will automatically be recovered by some specified other means.

4) The country of Scotland and Scottish people are our friends, and an Independent Scotland will continue to be our friends as the Norwegians, Icelanders and Spanish (for example) are our friends. But like our relations these and other countries, we must act always in our own interests with an Independent Scotland. Independence must be a two-way street. A special relationship - probably; but a relationship where the British Government will always act in the rUK's national interest.

Do you have the same views about these matters as I do?

Yours sincerely

- Andi Ye

The Shameful Case of Parents Efforts to Get the Best Medical Treatment for their Son with Cancer

I have been sickened and outraged to learn that more than a day after Ashya King's parents were arrested in Spain, they continue to be detained since the British Authorities haven't cancelled their arrest warrant, even though at the time of their arrest, the facts of this case were already known.

I have written the letter below to my MP and signed this petition at change.org:
https://www.change.org/p/police-reunite-ashya-with-his-parents
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Dear Mr Goodwill

I'm writing to ask your opinion on the case of Ashya King and his parents, and what action you are taking to end the deplorable situation in which they find themselves.

In the first place I completely understood why the authorities took the word of the hospital and made strenuous efforts to find Ashya King. It seemed that the little boy's life was in danger.

But since his father released a video, we've seen Ashya and had a full and detailed explanation of all the circumstances, and we've seen the feeding machine working and had that explained, it is more than completely clear that the parents are doing their best for their son... sparing no effort and sparing no personal sacrifice to get him the best treatment possible.

I do hope you have watched the video in full, Mr Goodwill. Here it is:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=14ETQn9ZPwk

Because what is clear to me is that after the video was released and the Spanish police had interviewed Ashya's parents, the Interpol arrest warrant should have been cancelled in short order, the parents should have been aided on their way to get the treatment they are seeking; and most probably an investigation should be launched into the poor quality of treatment he has been offered in the UK.

I knew that the child had been taken to hospital yesterday while his parents were questioned by the Spanish police, but I felt completely confident that the matter would quickly be sorted out from that point. When I learned this evening that the parents are languishing in a Spanish jail because the British authorities *still* haven't cancelled the arrest warrant, I was sickened to the stomach. I have to say that I have never been so ashamed of my wretched country.

Please tell me your views and what part you're playing in making sure Ashya King's parents can continue their efforts to get him the best treatment possible.

Yours sincerely

- Andi Ye