The CEP web site seems to have disappeared but the CEP's 2008 Conference is still going ahead - on Saturday 26th April.
Details are here:
http://www.thecep.org.uk/wordpress/
Look forward to seeing you there.
Stephen
Friday, 28 March 2008
Friday, 21 March 2008
It's a Miracle! - no council tax increase in Scotland!
Many of you have just had your English council tax demand - mine was an increase of 3.5% (ish). Whisper it quietly, there is a part of our sceptered isle where there is no increase in council tax at all.
Can you guess?
Scotland (for it is she) has no council tax increase, this is due to the largesse of the Barnett formula that allows English taxpayers to subsidise Scotland. Truly a miracle, if you're a Scot.
Of course this stinks to high heaven, which is why you won't be hearing about it on the BBC or C4 or the other organs of our 'free' democracy.
The Scotsman is quite happy to tell the story here:
http://news.scotsman.com/latestnews/Council-tax-freeze-across-Scotland.3781358.jp
I'll be asking my MP why this injustice is allowed to happen - not sure I'll get a meaningful answer though, he's a Lib Dem, never a a party to lose too much sleep over justice for their English voters.
Make sure you write to your MP - it does make a difference.
Stephen
Can you guess?
Scotland (for it is she) has no council tax increase, this is due to the largesse of the Barnett formula that allows English taxpayers to subsidise Scotland. Truly a miracle, if you're a Scot.
Of course this stinks to high heaven, which is why you won't be hearing about it on the BBC or C4 or the other organs of our 'free' democracy.
The Scotsman is quite happy to tell the story here:
http://news.scotsman.com/latestnews/Council-tax-freeze-across-Scotland.3781358.jp
I'll be asking my MP why this injustice is allowed to happen - not sure I'll get a meaningful answer though, he's a Lib Dem, never a a party to lose too much sleep over justice for their English voters.
Make sure you write to your MP - it does make a difference.
Stephen
Sunday, 9 March 2008
The Cost Of Being English.
The CEP have often raised the issue about the extra cost of being English in a Britain where England has no democratic control of its own affairs - unlike Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.
The mainstream media usually ignore this story (not rocking the establishment boat - as with the Euro referendum) but today the Sunday Times has an article setting out the real cost of being English in England.
You can read the full article here:
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/politics/article3511864.ece
But this section sums it up:
The latest figures on public spending per head show that in 2006-7 it was reckoned at £8,623 in Scotland; £8,139 in Wales; and just £7,121 in England. (The figures may seem modest, but they are for “identifiable spending” that differs between regions and do not include items such as defence that are deemed to be national.)
The Scots, with £1,500 more to spend per person, are lavishing services on their 5m population. Free care (up to £210 a week) for the elderly, free eye tests, dental checks and, in future, free prescriptions. Yet in England, it was announced last week that the prescription charge will rise to £7.10.
In Wales, which has £1,000 per person more to spend than England, the authorities last week announced plans for free hospital car parking. It infuriated taxpayers in England.
“It seems that in the UK, the poor relation is England,” said John Cherrett, a campaigner for pensioners in Dorset, where some hospitals charge £7 a day for parking. “Whatever way we look at it, public transport, drugs, pensions, whatever, England is a poor relation. We are the wealth-maker of the four parts of the UK and we lose out all along.”
In total the TaxPayers’ Alliance pressure group calculates that the “cost of being English” could amount to more than £7,000 a year – from £3,000 for university tuition fees to thousands more for care of the elderly, £25 for an eye test and £15 for each dental check-up.
What is the reason for this? Is it what it looks suspiciously like? - Labour looking after its heartlands in Scotland and Wales at the expense of the English? and is this why England's people are denied their own parliament - unlike Scotland and Wales?
Expect Labour to announce some headlining plan now that the issue is becoming mainstream but nothing less than a restoration of democracy to England will fix this one -an English parliament dealing with England's taxes and spending.
Stephen
The mainstream media usually ignore this story (not rocking the establishment boat - as with the Euro referendum) but today the Sunday Times has an article setting out the real cost of being English in England.
You can read the full article here:
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/politics/article3511864.ece
But this section sums it up:
The latest figures on public spending per head show that in 2006-7 it was reckoned at £8,623 in Scotland; £8,139 in Wales; and just £7,121 in England. (The figures may seem modest, but they are for “identifiable spending” that differs between regions and do not include items such as defence that are deemed to be national.)
The Scots, with £1,500 more to spend per person, are lavishing services on their 5m population. Free care (up to £210 a week) for the elderly, free eye tests, dental checks and, in future, free prescriptions. Yet in England, it was announced last week that the prescription charge will rise to £7.10.
In Wales, which has £1,000 per person more to spend than England, the authorities last week announced plans for free hospital car parking. It infuriated taxpayers in England.
“It seems that in the UK, the poor relation is England,” said John Cherrett, a campaigner for pensioners in Dorset, where some hospitals charge £7 a day for parking. “Whatever way we look at it, public transport, drugs, pensions, whatever, England is a poor relation. We are the wealth-maker of the four parts of the UK and we lose out all along.”
In total the TaxPayers’ Alliance pressure group calculates that the “cost of being English” could amount to more than £7,000 a year – from £3,000 for university tuition fees to thousands more for care of the elderly, £25 for an eye test and £15 for each dental check-up.
What is the reason for this? Is it what it looks suspiciously like? - Labour looking after its heartlands in Scotland and Wales at the expense of the English? and is this why England's people are denied their own parliament - unlike Scotland and Wales?
Expect Labour to announce some headlining plan now that the issue is becoming mainstream but nothing less than a restoration of democracy to England will fix this one -an English parliament dealing with England's taxes and spending.
Stephen
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