Miliband’s England

The debate over the Union provides Ed Miliband with a political opportunity. He is the only one of the three major party leaders whose party plays in both England and Scotland. The Tories only have one seat north of the border and the Lib Dems fear that they might lose all of their seats in mainland Scotland at the next election. By contrast, the local elections in Scotland this year saw something of a Labour revival, easily beating back the SNP challenge to its control of Glasgow City Council.

Miliband’s speech today was an attempt to make both the case for the Union to an English audience and to discuss English identity. Miliband’s willingness to talk about Englishness reflects the influence of Jon Cruddas, who was put in charge of Labour’s policy review at the last reshuffle.

But at the moment, all that Miliband is offering is words. He dismissed the argument for an English parliament by saying the answer isn’t more politicians. Yet if even more powers are devolved to Scotland, then there is going to have to be — at the least — some English votes for English laws-style arrangement.