Warning of English concern over West Lothian question
Tuesday, 20 June 2006 12:00 AM
The government must take action to deal with increasing "English discontent" over the West Lothian question, a committee of MPs warned yesterday.
The Labour-dominated Scottish affairs committee says concerns about the fact that Scottish MPs can vote on English matters could undermine the whole devolution settlement.
West Lothian MP Tam Dalyell first posed the question in the 1970s, and since power to determine health and education policy have been devolved to the Holyrood parliament, the issue has gained increasing prominence.
Tight votes over controversial laws such as foundation hospitals and tuition fees in recent years also raised the question of whether a government should be allowed to use the votes of Scottish MPs to force through legislation that will not affect their own constituents.
In yesterday's report, the MPs suggest four possible solutions - either the dissolution of the UK and Scottish independence; English devolution; fewer Scottish MPs; or a new arrangement where only English MPs vote on English laws.
"Although we make no recommendations on how to resolve this question, we considered it worth noting our concerns, with the hope that the matter will be comprehensively debated, and resolved, before the situation is reached whereby it could actually undermine the whole devolution settlement," they warn.
Earlier this year, Lord Blake introduced a private members' bill to introduce the fourth suggestion put by the committee - English votes for English laws - but the government rejected this on the basis that it would be too complicated.
Conservative MP George Young, who offered to take the bill through the House of Commons, noted the significance of the break between the Labour-dominated Scottish affairs committee report and this official government line.
"The government says this is an 'anomaly' that can be lived with. The select committee basically says this is unsustainable," he told politics.co.uk.
The committee also notes a recent report for the BBC which shows 52 per cent of people in the UK believed it would be wrong for a Scottish MP to become prime minister, given that Scotland has its own parliament.
That figure rises to 55 per cent of people in England and 59 per cent of people in the south-east of England, which is not a good sign for chancellor Gordon Brown. Just 20 per cent of Scots thought it was a bad idea.
"This balanced report drives a horse and coaches through government claims that the West Lothian question is not an issue," said Angus MacNeil, the Scottish National party's (SNP's) representative on the committee.
"It must come as some discomfort that a report by a committee with a Labour majority would come to such conclusions. It is equally unsettling that it calls for a debate to take place."
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