I am sure we will all welcome the planned transfer of powers and resources to local government in Oxfordshire which the three main Westminster parties appear to be promising. After all, if it is good enough for Scotland, then a fairer taxation system can deliver better quality essential services everywhere in the UK, without question.

Doubtless, these parties realise that although they won the argument in the Scottish referendum, they lost completely lost the case for keeping excessive powers, and maintaining unending austerity, in their hands at Westminster.

And what about cutting the voting powers of MPs representing Scotland?

Wouldn’t this be just a tad racist if not applied to London MPs (London Assembly), Northern Ireland MPs (Stormont) and Welsh MPs (Welsh Assembly)?

So the devolution solution must be empowering the voter first with proportional representation, then empowering local government uniformly throughout the UK, then giving each UK region matching powers. Natalie Bennett, leader of the Green Party, and Caroline Lucas MP have both already written on these lines.

Imagine an Oxfordshire which had the resources commensurate with its needs for using brownfield sites for housing more quickly, for improving health promotion and health services and for cutting class sizes in our schools.

The Scottish referendum campaign is over. The fight for more democracy in England is only just starting, whatever the three main Westminster parties may actually wish to feature in their preferred versions of the next General Election.

Steve Dawe, County Press Officer, Oxfordshire Green Party

 

Today’s letters


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