AS the people of Scotland and Wales have now elected the Scottish parliament and the Welsh assembly, the question of the position of England within the United Kingdom is posed, as is the role of Scottish and Welsh MPs in relation to English legislation in the Westminster parliament.
Ironically, it is the brutal repression of the Celtic nations over centuries by the rulers of England that is partly responsible for their strong national identities, and this process has not resulted in a strong sense of 'Englishness.'
Many English working people feel alienated from the South East-dominated English establishment and have a stronger sense of regional identity than a national one.
The kinds of powers devolved to the new bodies in Scotland and Wales should be devolved to democratically elected regional assemblies in England, and the powers and size of Westminster could be pruned as the most centralised state in Western Europe is at last decentralised and democratised.
ROGER BANNISTER, UNISON National Executive Council (personal capacity), Admin Road, Kirkby.
Converted for the new archive on 14 July 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.
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