Email to David Wright MP

Further to my post below about cuts to health services in Shropshire, a letter to my MP, David Wright ...

Dear David,

I trust this email finds you well?

Thank you for your recent letter. I have left a message on your answerphone to try and arrange a mutually convenient time to come and see you but nobody has called me back. Unfortunately I work full time so I can't attend your surgeries during weekdays. Would you please let me know when we can meet?

On to the subject of the hospitals. I read in tonight's Shropshire Star that the local hospitals in Shropshire have had a reprieve and that they no longer face the threat of closure. However, I note that services will still be cut to save money.

I have been working out some figures and have attached an Excel spreadsheet with them in. The figures detail the amount of money Shropshire contributes to the subsidy of Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland every year under the Barnett Formula. The figures are interesting and I wonder if you have ever found out exactly how much keeping our neighbours from bankruptcy costs your constituents. My guess is that you haven't and that is the reason why you have always maintained that the Barnett Formula and lack of devolution in England is perfectly reasonable.

In short, Shropshire contributes £100m per year to the Scottish, Welsh and Northern Irish subsidy via the Barnett Formula. Bearing in mind that the debt of Shropshire NHS is around £30m and it has a budget deficit of £60m, to pay £100m out for superior services in the rest of the UK that we are denied even if we are in those countries and then to cut our own services because there is no money left is remarkable don't you think?

The answer is, of course, a simple one and is in two parts.

Firstly, the Barnett Formula needs to be abolished and Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland need to learn to cut their cloth to fit their pockets. The reason why they need so much money is because they can't seem to stop themselves giving things away to their people to secure a few votes. Perfectly understandable as career politicians have a lot to lose if they fail to win an election but I don't see why we should be paying for their publicity stunts. If we cut off the subsidy then they will have to learn to control their spending and become self-sufficient, just like we have to.

Secondly, England needs her own devolved parliament. Now I know you aren't keen on the idea but please do bear with me on this. Quite aside from the fact that recent polls show massive public support for an English parliament - ITV Teletext poll was 95% in favour and BBC poll is 74% in favour (please pass on my thanks to Lord Falconer for giving the Campaign for an English Parliament a much needed boost, much appreciated) - a devolved English government would take control of the English health service. Since Scotland and Wales took control of their own health budgets they have improved services no end. They have free prescriptions, free access to drugs such as Herceptin without having to beg for their lives only to be turned down, free eye tests, etc. An English parliament in control of its own budget would be able to allocate the necessary funds to the health service without having to rely on the benevolence of Ms Hewitt who has to act in the interests of the whole of the UK, not just England.

Now I'm not suggesting that we cut off the subsidy completely. The Scottish and Welsh administrations have learnt to rely on English taxes to bail them out and adjusting to a new regime of spending their own money instead of ours will be difficult. There may be occasions when they simply can't afford necessities and we will have to come to their rescue again. What I would like to see happen, though, is that we first pay our own bills and provide reasonable services to our own people before we start giving away our hard earned taxes. It's not as if they're actually grateful for the handouts either is it? Every year Plaid and the SNP complain that the Barnett Formula is so unfair to them - I wish someone would give me free money!

So, in summary, I suggest the Barnett Formula is scrapped and Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland made to spend only the taxes raised in their own countries. Furthermore, I suggest a devolved English parliament which will bring fairness and equality to England and, most importantly, control our own budget. If, once we have paid our own bills, there is some money left over then we can offer some sort of subsidy to our friends in the north and west.

I know you're busy but I would appreciate more than 1 paragraph in response to this and I would urge you again to use email rather than the postal service. Only tonight I read a report into the spiralling costs of postage in the public sector and an email doesn't cost anything to send and you'll be doing your bit for the enivronment because that Commons paper must take half a tree to make it, it's very heavy.

Kind regards,