In whose national interest?

Sir, May I say I read with interest Mr Derrick Atkinson’s letter regarding human rights in England and I have to say I agree with him entirely, although I feel he may not get the answers he is looking for regarding English issues as Mr Barron is a UK MP, N

It is the job of an MP to represent, defend and promote the national interest and to further the needs and interests of constituents wherever possible. But in which national interest do they serve and to which nation are they accountable?

At the election England came within a hair’s breadth of being ruled by a coalition reliant on the support of Scottish and Welsh nationalists.

Where do you think their loyalty lies? MPs and Ministers elected outside England are not directly democratically accountable to English voters in important areas of governance such as English equality, Health and Education etc, etc, yet they have the same voting rights as English MPs and equal opportunity to serve in government.

It is also the role of your MP to help furnish and maintain Government and Opposition so that the business of parliamentary ‘democracy’ may proceed.

The Government of the day calls upon all its MPs, irrespective of the nation in which they were elected, in order to conduct its business. It is for this reason that Parliament divides along party lines rather than national lines, which means that the UK Parliament can never properly function as a dual mandate English and UK Parliament.

Although Parliament has a majority of MPs elected within England there is no such thing as an ‘English MP’ because no MP is elected as such, and consequently, because Parliament divides along party lines, there is no ‘English majority’ that can be relied upon to protect England’s national interests.

For MPs in the UK Parliament, elected on a UK manifesto, the national interest is the national interest of the United Kingdom. And given the nature of Parliament, which is essentially an electoral college that selects the UK Government, the majority of MPs can be expected to put the interests of the UK Government above those of England.

Therefore until England has its own parliament with English only MPs we will continue to be betrayed by the likes of Mr Blair and all who presently sit the House of Commons.

David Miller, Rotherham Road, Maltby.