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Why is the United Kingdom not a federation?

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Four reasons in my book 1. England is too big. 83% of the UK population live in England, and no other union of countries has lasted as long as the UK with such an imbalance. read more

Simply put, this is the dilemma that Scottish, Northern Irish, and Welsh members of parliament (MPs) in the U.K. Parliament (based in Westminster, the London landmark known for Big Ben) can vote on policies that affect England alone, but the reverse does not hold true for English MPs. read more

Philip Booth of the Institute of Economic Affairs, a leading British free market think tank, proposes a federal system for the United Kingdom. read more

That’s why the “United Kingdom” isn’t, and can’t become a federation, because federations assume that the constituent parts are, if not equal, at least comparable in some way as regards power. Only by Scotland, Wales and Ireland returning to their status as normal independent countries can this problem be fixed. read more

A federal system for Britain By Ilya Somin November 5, 2015 Email the author Recent political developments in Britain have stimulated interest in establishing a federal system in that country as a way of forestalling the rise of secessionist sentiment in Scotland and bridging the growing ideological divide between relatively conservative England and more left-wing Scotland and Wales. read more

Others are calling for more dramatic constitutional overhauls of the United Kingdom. “While the majority of us would like Scotland to stay in the UK, a large majority of us in England now want devolution for our country too,” John Redwood, a Conservative MP from southeast England, wrote in the Financial Times on Wednesday, on the eve of the independence vote. read more

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