Dr M A Fazal
This threat has arisen due to the Brexit proposal of the current UK government and the demand from Scotland for a second independence referendum.
The readers' attention is drawn to my website articles (https://www.angelfire.com/ok/mafazal/index.html) entitled 1) A Federal Option To the Question of Independence for Scotland, 2) The Fazal Proposal for a Federal Option to the Irish Problem, and 3) Should Britain Remain in the European Union or Leave It?).
Their attention is similarly drawn to my book entitled ‘A Federal Constitution For the United Kingdom - An Alternative to Devolution’ (Ashgate/Dartmouth, 1997). The book proposes the establishment of the United Kingdom Federation consisting of three units plus federally administered territories, viz.
1) England including Wales (Wales could be an administrative unit within England. Wales could not be a separate federating unit because all the federating units have to be economically viable. Wales on its own would not constitute a viable federating unit economically.)
2) Scotland
3) A reunited Ireland
4) The Isle of Man and the Channel Islands will retain their existing autonomy under the status of federally administered territories.
The capitals of England, Scotland and reunited Ireland as the federating units would be Warwick, Edinburgh and Dublin respectively, London being the federal capital. The book seeks to construct a federal model that will confer the maximum autonomy on the federating units including a role in foreign affairs, membership of the United Nations, where appropriate, the European Union and the Council of Europe. This is likely to satisfy the nationalist sentiment and the demands of the federating units while at the same time preserving the unity of the United Kingdom.
The book is available in the library of the House of Lords. (The book has also been published in the United States of America.)
Under my federal proposal, Ireland will virtually retain its current independent status and Scotland will get what it wants while remaining a part of the United Kingdom. The proposal will provide an answer to the question as to how to solve the problem of non-English MPs (including Scottish MPs) voting on English issues in Parliament. Under my proposed federal constitution, England as a federal unit will have its own parliament in Warwick, where the English MPs will be deciding on English issues while the federal parliament in London will be deciding on matters that are within the federal jurisdiction. There will be a clear dividing line between the federal and regional jurisdictions. Non-English MPs will not be voting on English issues in the federal parliament.
