The Revolution

How can power be devolved from Westminster to the people when Westminster has so little? When 85% of the laws affecting the UK originate directly from Brussels - which in reality means an unelected set of left-leaning anti-British bureaucrats (the EU Commission) - in what sense is Britain still a self-governing sovereign democracy? Why are we surprised that the current generation of politicians are such pygmies - there is comparatively little they can do to affect the way Britain is governed. Not surprisingly the "best" politician we seem to have, inhabits the European Parliament not the British one and he seems intent on staying. It is only rational for Dan Hannan to stay, he knows where the power is and from whence it was derived.

Our foreign, trade, industrial, agricultural, fisheries, energy, financial, regulatory, environmental and social policies are all dictated by Brussels. Brussels is encroaching on criminal justice, defence and taxation. As a result, none of these areas of policy will be debated at the next election, because no domestic politician can do anything about them. To compound this, the executive has even farmed out swathes of what remained of its executive discretion and administrative power to unelected, invisible quangos (there are hundreds of these).

The electorate is pretty rational. Increasing numbers recognize that the identity of the majority party in the Commons matters less and less. The BNP (as Tebbit put it, racist socialists), the SNP, Plaid Cymru and others benefit from the same basic issue, which is that none of the main parties address these fundamental issues of the distribution of political power in modern Britain. The expenses scandal, the low calibre of "careerist" MPs, the rise of minor and extremist parties, the disengagement with conventional politics combined with an explosion of interest in single-interest protest groups all have the same root cause; Westminster has ceased to be the place from which Britain is governed.

Leaving the EU - or perhaps better, becoming a semi-detached member who only accepts its rules on a negotiated, voluntary basis - would be a massive undertaking with considerable risks, but is the only way of achieving the revolution we seek.

Then again will any of this happen? No, because we are British we do not "do" forceful displays of public opinion i.e. revolutions. Apologies, being rather cynical this afternoon.