West Lothian question

The West Lothian question was a question posed by Tam Dalyell, MP for the Scottish constituency of Linlithgow during a debate over Scottish devolution in the 1970s. The name was coined in 1977 by Enoch Powell.

The question is twofold:

How can it be right that MPs elected to Westminster from Scottish constituencies have no ability to affect the issues of their constituents which have been devolved to the Scottish Parliament, and

If power over Scottish affairs is devolved to a Scottish Parliament, how can it be right that MPs representing Scottish constituencies in the Parliament of the United Kingdom will have the power to vote on issues affecting England (including those that don't affect Scotland), but English MPs will not have the power to vote on Scottish issues?

With the passing of the Scotland Act in 1998, and the creation of the Scottish Parliament in 1999, this anomaly"It is a clear anomaly, yes. But the right question to ask yourself is: how do you deal with that anomaly in a way that most promotes the Union?" - Lord Falconer of Thoroton, Secretary of State for Constitutional Affairs, Today programme, BBC Radio 4, 10 March 2006 has come into existence.

While Scottish MPs have not been prevented from voting on English domestic affairs, the number of MPs to which Scotland is entitled (which was previously disproportionately high for its population) was reduced at the 2005 General Election, from 72 to 59.

Legislation for the creation of foundation hospitals in England, and to introduce university top-up fees (within the Higher Education Act), was passed only due to Scottish MPs voting in favour of these respective sections. The majority of English MPs voted againstScots MPs attacked over fees vote, BBC News Online, 27 January, 2004

Summing up the view held by those critical of the current devolution settlements, the Shadow Constitutional Secretary, Oliver Heald, said

"It is not sustainable to have measures imposed on England on the back of the votes of Scottish MPs, when the same measures in Scotland are the responsibility of the Scottish Parliament."Falconer rules out an English parliament claiming it would destroy the Union, Daily Telegraph, 11 March 2006

Arguing in favour of the status quo, the Secretary of State for Constitutional Affairs, Lord Falconer, said

"All matters — even those seemingly limited to England — impact on the Union. The funding settlement with the nations and regions of the UK means that what is decided on public funding in England, for example, affects Scotland and Wales and Northern Ireland. These are national issues for the United Kingdom and so they should be debated at the national Parliament in Westminster by all MPs, not by subsets depending on the location of their constituency."Lord Falconer of Thoroton, Ministerial speech, 10 March 2006.

Key considerations

Executive power hierarchy

The Scottish Parliament was formed by statute — the Scotland Act 1998, and is, thus a creation of Westminster. The enactment of the Scotland Act 1998 conferred no sovereign status on the Scottish Parliament, and has, crucially not changed the status of the Westminster Parliament as the supreme legislature of Scotland, with Westminster retaining the ability to over-ride, or veto, any decisions taken by the Scottish Parliament. The Westminster parliament remains the executive body; power is devolved rather than handed to the Scottish Parliament.

As a consequence the ability of all Westminster MPs to vote on Scottish legislation has not been legally diminished by devolution, as made clear by Section 28(7) of the Scotland Act 1998, which states that the legislative powers of the Scottish Parliament do ...not affect the power of the Parliament of the United Kingdom to make laws for Scotland Scotland Act, section 28(7).

During devolution, a convention was created to manage the power of Westminster to legislate on matters within the legislative competence of the Scottish Parliament. This is known as the Sewel motion, and the related Scottish parliamentary motions are known as Sewel Motions Sewel Motions, Scottish Executive website. These motions (of which there are around a dozen per year) allow all English, Welsh and Northern Irish , as well as Scottish MP's to vote on issues under the jurisdiction of the Scottish Parliament. They require that the Westminster Parliament obtain the consent of the Scottish Parliament to pass acts that are within Holyrood's legislative competence. However, given that the Sewel Convention is an informal and uncodified procedural device The Sewel Convention, House of Commons Standard Note, and the UK Parliament has legislative supremacy; were the Scottish Parliament to deny consent, Westminster could go ahead and pass the law anyway.

Reserved matters

Legislation relating to reserved issues such as defence, national security, foreign affairs and monetary and economic issues are voted on by all the MPs at Westminster to ensure consistency across the whole of the United Kingdom. The Scottish Parliament is not able to pass laws on these issues itself, as they were not devolved. The West Lothian Question is not related to this situation, as all parts of the Union have a proportional say and all are equally affected.

Parliament of Northern Ireland

A situation akin to that presented by the West Lothian Question did exist between 1921 and 1972, when there was a Parliament of Northern Ireland that legislated for Northern Ireland, whilst Northern Ireland continued to send MPs to Westminster, who could vote on matters affecting Great Britain only.

However, during this period Northern Ireland had disproportionately fewer MPs than would be expected from the relative populations, with the numbers cut from the twenty-nine elected at the 1918 general election to thirteen from the 1922 general election, and later to twelve with the abolition of University constituencies in 1950.

Proposed answers

English votes on English laws

It has been proposed that Scottish MPs should be barred from voting on matters that do not affect Scotland. This has been the policy of the major opposition Conservative Party since 1999. In July 1999, the then Conservative leader William Hague said that "English MPs should have exclusive say over English laws… People will become increasingly resentful that decisions are being made in England by people from other parts of the UK on matters that that English people did not have a say on elsewhere… I think it is a dangerous thing to allow resentment to build up in a country. We have got to make the rules fair now." "English votes on English laws", BBC News Online, July 15, 1999

Labour opposed this policy, with the then Secretary of State for Scotland John Reid accused Hague of "fanning the flames of English nationalism".

Both the Conservative and Scottish National parties follow a policy that MPs for Scottish seats will not vote on issues that only affect England. During his final years in the Commons, Labour MP Tam Dalyell also voted in line with such a policy. However there were times when the political parties were in disagreement as to whether a matter did not affect England, such as the Higher Education Act 2004. During the 2006 Liberal Democrats leadership election contender Simon Hughes pledged that if he were elected the Liberal Democrats would also follow such a rule, Simon Hughes is also on record for supporting a full English Parliament.

Opponents of this proposal argue that it introduces further confusion, and effectively has two Parliaments in a single chamber. Furthermore, it would not overcome the problems created should Scottish MPs become Ministers in Westminster with responsibilities for devolved matters (as happened during John Reid's tenure as Secretary of State for Health). This has become all the more problematic with the likelihood that the Scottish Chancellor Gordon Brown will eventually become the next Prime Minister. An ICM poll conducted for the BBC's "The Daily Politics" show found that 52% of those questioned from across the UK opposed the idea of a Scottish Prime Minister English voters 'oppose Scots PM', BBC News Online, 14 May 2006.

As a slight variation, it has been proposed that an English Grand Committee, along the lines of the Scottish and Welsh Grand Committees (made up of all the MPs from relevant nation) be formed to debate on the effects of legislation on England .

Fewer Scottish MPs

There is also the option of cutting the number of Scottish MPs even further to about 40, as happened during the existence of the Parliament of Northern Ireland when the number of MPs at Westminster was below the standard ratio of electorate to MPs for the rest of the UK. It is argued that this would trade a reduced voice for Scotland in exchange for Scottish MPs being able to vote on English matters, and therefore form an acceptable solution for both England and Scotland.

English Devolution

The creation of a Devolved English parliament, with full legislative powers, akin to the Scottish Parliament is seen by some as a solution to this problem, with full legislative powers also being conferred on the existing Welsh Assembly. The Westminster (United Kingdom) Parliament would continue to meet and legislate on matters of UK-wide competence such as Defence, Foreign Affairs and economic matters with the parliaments of England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland legislating locally.

However opponents of this proposal argue that it would simply add another layer of government and an 'expensive talking shop'. Lord Falconer, the Secretary of State for Constitutional Affairs, has stated that he believes that an English Parliament would 'dwarf all other institutions' No English parliament — Falconer, BBC News Online, 10 March 2006

Another variation on this would be to create elected English regional assemblies with legislative powers. A proposal for one of these, the North-East Assembly, was put to the electorate in a referendum but was rejected North East votes 'no' to assembly, BBC News Online, 5 November 2004 leading to the shelving of similar proposals for other English regions.

Dissolution of the Union

Another solution might be the dissolution of the United Kingdom leading to the constituent nations — Scotland, Wales and potentially also England and Northern Ireland — becoming independent sovereign states. Whilst this is unlikely, it is not infeasible given the strength of the independence movement — especially in Scotland and, to a lesser extent, Wales.

References

External links

Talking Politics: The West Lothian Question, BBC News Online, June 1, 1998
The West Lothian spectre, Parliamentary sketch by Simon Hoggart], The Guardian, November 7, 2001
Hansard text of a debate on the subject in 1998 (scroll down for the start, and continue on to subsequent pages)
House of Commons Research Paper on the subject
Campaign for an English Parliament
English Constitutional Convention
English Democrats Party

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