Tories 'look to West Lothian answer'
Sunday, 28 October 2007 12:00 AM
The Conservatives are reportedly considering plans to bar Welsh and Scottish MPs from voting on legislation relating to England.
Party grandee Sir Malcolm Rifkind is receiving support from leader David Cameron for his method of preventing Scottish and Welsh MPs from voting on English matters, the Observer newspaper reports.
The proposed measures could result in an answer to the so-called West Lothian question, the political headache caused by devolution in which English MPs cannot vote on devolved issues affecting only Scotland.
There is widespread concern that Sir Malcolm's proposal might create constitutional difficulties relating to the voting rights of MPs, with opponents arguing that the current equality of MPs would become progressively more eroded as a result.
But the former Scottish secretary believes his plan - to create a grand committee in which English-only matters would be scrutinised and voted on - bypasses this problem in a way that previous Tory policy did not.
"The policy was a bit too simplistic: it would have created two classes of MP with Scots not able to vote in the House of Commons. We have to deal with this problem in a more sophisticated way," he told the Observer.
Current Scottish secretary David Cairns told the same newspaper that the proposal was "utterly unworkable".
"Once you breach the principle that all MPs should vote on matters before them in Westminster you get constitutional anarchy," he said.
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