Westminster is the real anachronism, not the European Union

http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2012/nov/03/westminster-anachronism-european-union-eu

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This week, Westminster politics was even more depressing than usual. Accountable democracy is supposed to guard against populism. But Europe is, as ever, still being used as a lazy, push-button topic for inflaming passions and sentiments, but little else. The EU's political opponents never admit that a truly federalised Europe, rather than the current pale imitation of such, would be more efficient and democratic. Of course they don't: the logical conclusion of it would be to devolve London's power down as well as up. It's Westminster, not Brussels, that is the pointless anachronism.

But also this week, the politics that exist beyond the cabinet and the whips gave cause for hope, even delight. Michael Heseltine argued persuasively that regional empowerment would be good for the economy. And the Resolution Foundation finally put on the frontline agenda something most people know to be true: that wages are not socially useful unless they allow people to gain economic access to the system they are expected to work and pay their taxes to be part of. Hallelujah.