Tag Archive for Letter

Letter on Jack Straw’s veto of 1997 devolution meeting minutes

January 5, 2010 Police State No comments

On 10th December I sent a letter to my MP, David Wright, about the British Home Secretary, Jack Straw, vetoing the release of minutes of a 1997 cabinet meeting on devolution via WriteToThem.com.  He didn’t reply but he’s just agreed on Twitter to reply to questions I’ve asked him on Twitter and to my letter so here it is and I’ll post his reply when he replies.

Dear David,

The British Home Secretary, Jack Straw, has vetoed the release of minutes of the 1997 cabinet meeting on devolution to Scotland, Wales and “the English Regions”.

This is only the second time that a ruling by the Information Commissioner to release information has been vetoed by the Home Secretary.

What was said in a meeting about devolution that was so dangerous that it can’t be made public? What deals were done to break up England and preserve the dominance of Scottish politicians?

I think we all need to know just how much of the current discrimination and Britification of England goes back to shady deals done in that cabinet meeting and what the ultimate objective is. Is the status quo of a neutered England in a Scottish-dominated union all that was intended or was the complete abolition of England ordained in 1997? The cabinet meeting was about long term policy for the union, I think we have a right to know exactly what the British have planned for us. I urge you to speak to your Home Secretary and ask him to rethink his decision to keep this information secret.

Stuart

I have to say that while I don’t rate him as a politician, he does make more of an effort on Twitter than most.

Letters in Shropshire Star

October 7, 2009 Health, Letters One comment

I had a letter published in the Shropshire Star the other day:

Easy way of saving NHS cash in England

With all the talk of cutting services at the Princess Royal Hospital, it is worth bearing in mind a few things.  Firstly, the English NHS has been underspending for the last few years by a considerable amount.

Spending on the Scottish, Welsh and Northern Irish NHS has increased considerably.  Secondly, the Welsh government refuses to pay the going rate to English hospitals for treating Welsh patients – something that costs the NHS in Shropshire approximately £2m per year.

Thirdly, the Welsh are terrible payers – Oswestry hospital threatened to refuse to treate patients from Powys earlier this year because they wouldn’t pay their bills.  A hospital in Bristol actually went as far as cancelling surgery for Welsh patients this year for the same reason.

The Welsh get free prescriptions and free hospital car parking yet we in England still subsidise their health service thanks to the Barnett Formula.

Why do our MPs allow £20bn a year flow over the border to subsidise spending in the rest of the UK?  Shropshire’s hospitals could raise well over £2m a year by charging Welsh health boards the amount for treating their patients and penalising for overdue payments.

Stuart Parr
Telford

Tonight they printed a reply from another reader …

Rules for English are unfair

I agree with Stuart Parr’s letter (Shropshire Star, October 2).  We English are very unfairly treated under the Barnett formula to the advantage of the other countries in the so-called United Kingdom.

Over the last few years this has become the “dis-united kingdom”.  He asks why our MPs allow this disparity and all I can do is point out again that our Government is heavily Scottish-dominated.  The other countries in the UK all have their own assemblies, but not the English.

The Scottish-dominated government will not even stop the Scottish, Welsh and Ulster MPs from voting on English-only matters in Westminster.

All this is very unfair to the English and even Barnett has stated so, but with the majority of English MPs being Conservative our current government is not going to change anything,

We can only hope to achieve parity after the next election and have our own parliament, or better still get rid of the other money-wasting and expense claiming assemblies.

Graham Burns
Newport

Agree with every word right up until the second half of the last sentence.