The British Parliament
Although I’d prefer Scottish independence, if I can’t have that, I’d prefer a fully federal system in the UK. That would mean that the federal parliament should only deal with foreign affairs, macroeconomics, defense and a few other things.
Such a parliament should give ample representation to the smaller nations. The only reason that the English are allowed to dominate Westminster so heavily is that it is also their national parliament. As soon as the English had their own parliament to deal with schools, hospitals, traffic and so on, there would be no basis for this any more.
I think the fairest solution would be using the square-root of population figures.
I also think this would be a good opportunity to enfranchise the areas under the British Crown that are not part of the UK.
Given the current population figures, the new British Federal Parliament would look as follows:
| Nation | Population | Seats |
|---|---|---|
| England | 50,762,900 | 71 |
| Scotland | 5,116,900 | 23 |
| Wales | 2,958,600 | 17 |
| Northern Ireland | 1,710,300 | 13 |
| Jersey | 89,300 | 3 |
| Isle of Man | 80,058 | 3 |
| Guernsey | 65,573 | 3 |
| Bermuda | 64,482 | 3 |
| Cayman Islands | 46,600 | 2 |
| Gibraltar | 28,875 | 2 |
| Virgin Islands | 21,730 | 1 |
| Turks and Caicos | 21,500 | 1 |
| Anguilla | 12,800 | 1 |
| St Helena | 6,563 | 1 |
| Pitcairn | 67 | 0 |
| 61,013,215 | 147 |
What responsibilities and liabilities would come from this enfranchisement of the Overseas Territories?
Who’s going to explain to the Pitcairners, who are already quite annoyed, that these responsibilities and liabilities will extend to them but they will not have a voice in the new system?
What about the Chagossians, who are expected to win the final appeal to the Law Lords this year, giving them the right to resettle some of their islands?
Your population figure for St. Helena is incorrect. At least 25% of them have left since 2002.
I write from the British Caribbean, where we are suspicious of officials from London with new ideas for our “betterment.”
It would mean all areas under the British Crown would be stakeholders in the foreign and defense policy. Domestic policies shouldn’t be affected.
It’s unfair to the Pitcairners, of course – I guess they could be included with some other territory.
If areas become independent, they would of course lose the seats in the parliament. If new areas enter, they will be allocated seats according to their population.
I imagine the seats would be reallocated every ten years or so based on the most recent census.
As I said, this parliament would be strictly limited to very few policy areas. Education, health, agriculture and many other areas would be fully devolved and thus not affected.