I have always considered the West Lothian Answer to be fairly simple. The Speaker decides if legislation is England-only, and if so then only English MPs get to vote on it. This has been in the last two Tory manifestos – but Ken Clarke today offers something different. He suggests all MPs vote on second readings of all legislation, but only English MPs vote at the committee stages of England-only legislation. Scots MPs would be unable to block any amendments, but would have the right to team up with government rebels and vote the whole thing down. Or, in the deplorable case of English university top up fees and foundation hospitals, thwart government rebels and foist unpopular policy on England that won’t affect them. This is, apparently, so as to allow the UK government – with its nationwide majority – to “retain control of the agenda” and “control of the money.” My thoughts…
1) Ken Clarke is being fairly generous, as the only government likely to have a UK majority but not an English one is the Labour Party.
2) Since when did the UK have control of the UK agenda? That all changed with the Scotland Act of 1999. The SNP will (I believe) govern in Scotland until at least 2015 and will enforce a policy of “socialism in one country”. It will tighten the grip of the state in Scotland, as Cameron loosens it in England. So let’s not pretend there is such a thing as UK policy to protect.
3) The “control of the money” is something which Cameron could (and, I believe, should) pass to the SNP, granting its policy of fiscal autonomy. I’d have thought Ken Clarke’s democracy taskforce would welcome this Basque-style setup.
I have yet to see the whole document – but James Kirkup at the Telegraph had the scoop on this three weeks ago, and I doubt much has changed. It strikes me as a dilution and retreat from the original “English vote for English laws principle”. And aside from the underemployed Scottish MPs (who each have an average of 2.2 MSPs to share the constituency work with), who cares if they are “second class MPs”? Certainly not the Scots. When I was at The Scotsman, we ran polls on this. Scots have zero desire for their local MP to decide how English hospitals or universities are organised. And since devolution, there already are two classes of MPs. Those representing Scottish and Welsh constituencies have, at most, half the casework – and get paid the same. And even then, many of them can’t be bothered to turn up to vote. So if I were Cameron, I’d thank Ken Clarke very much for his work and stick to Plan A. Here it is, from the 2001 Tory manifesto:
When Parliament is discussing something that affects the whole of the United Kingdom, all MPs should vote. But only English and Welsh MPs will be entitled to vote on Government Bills relating to England and Wales. And English MPs alone will vote on the remaining laws which apply exclusively to England.
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