The English people could probably now be persuaded to support a fully federal system, with a UK government

(The article can be read here: (‘UK will always placate Irish nationalism because NI has become place that dare not speak its name’)

Part of the answer, I think, is to find new causes, new friends should then follow.

It’s time to reinvigorate an old discussion, the debate about a fully federal UK. At least, it’s an old discussion for me.

I remember, long ago, imagining a balanced federal system, with assemblies throughout the English regions, as well as Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales, and a federal capital somewhere, anywhere but London.

I struggled with details, what to do about that most glorious of counties, Cornwall, for example, or where the Yorkshire assembly should be sited, Leeds, Bradford or Sheffield? The answer, of course, is York. But, overall it could have worked, and still could.

Instead, we got a disjointed devolution that plays into the hands of nationalists. The SNP has played the current system with aplomb. Even in Wales the badly designed balance of power between the nations and regions of the UK, and the centre, is raising questions about the future of the Union.

NI currently feels like a land slightly apart, but a federal UK would make the Province seem more integrated, not less.

We should be wary of the risks of a border poll, but we should also be discussing fresh ideas, and why not an over-arching one that resets the debate and blindsides our opponents?

It might be argued that a federal UK would lead to the accelerated break-up of the country. But, perhaps it is doing nothing that will cause that.

It could also be argued that a federal UK will never happen, it’s pie in the sky. Well, stranger things have certainly happened, many of them in the last few years.

It all depends on the mood in England. I believe that the English people could now be persuaded to support a fully federal system, with a UK government dealing mainly with foreign affairs, defence, and macro-economic planning.

Westminster is now little more popular in England than it is in the rest of the UK It would take time to win England over,but it could be done .

The SNP could still find issues to inflame in a federal system, primarily Scotland’s money being spent on Trident, I suspect. But, I don’t think that would be enough to allow them to inveigle the Scottish people into breaking a new, balanced, federal settlement.

Surely there must be some unionists in NI who could make common cause with friends in Scotland to kick-start a debate on this subject. It has been argued that civilisations decline because of superstition, boredom and inertia.

We need to display supreme confidence, and carefully debate new ideas, soon.

John Gemmell, Wem, Shropshire

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