The idea of an English Grand Committee is a good one. It will reduce the currently enormous democratic deficit currently enforced upon England and its people.

But this is only acceptable and appropriate as a short-time solution. This will only reduce the democratic deficit, not remove it. If a grand committee is acceptable for England, why is it not also acceptable for Scotland and Wales? There should be equal – truly equal – democratic representation for all four parts of the United Kingdom.

England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland should all have Parliaments with the same powers, and an equal level of centrally-raised finance per head. Extra money can then be granted for specific reasons or for specific projects, and any extra wanted can be raised for taxes from their own taxpayers.

The reason that it is the money which gets the English “so cross” is because that is a tangible thing that can be seen and quantified. It can be directly compared. Political power, on the other hand, isn’t obvious in the same way – and Scottish MPs have not yet been used to push through a policy that only effects England that is of wide enough interest.

An English grand committee is the minimum that should happen – and it should happen now. And then we can start on the discussion on how devolution should be properly organised in order to remove the democratic deficit that currently exists within the UK.

Sources: BBC, The Telegraph, The Times, The Observer