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What is the West Lothian Question , and why is it important?
Tam Dalyell
a rare politician
raised vital questions |
The question
The West Lothian question was a question raised by Tam Dalyell, MP for the Scottish constituency of West Lothian during the debate over Scottish devolution in the 1970s. The question was in two parts:
"How can it be right that MP's 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?" |
At the time no adequate response was forthcoming and even today after a Scottish Parliament has been established no satisfactory answer has been provided. In addition the anomoly raised by Tam Dalyell is now a reality.
Although Scottish MPs have not been prevented from voting on English domestic affairs, the disproportionate number of MPs to the population in Scotland was reduced at the 2005 general election, from 72 to 59. However the voting majority of the current Labour government is held by Scottish and Welsh Labour MPs. Indeed the current governments "built in" majority at Westminster is completely reliant on Scottish and Welsh Labour MPs carrying the vote on issues which directly affect England, even in the face of majority of English MPs opposing them.
Awareness of this serious anomoly has been raised by recent unpopular legislation affecting England which was levered through solely on the basis is a government majority held by the Scottish and Welsh MPs who serve on the other assemblies. Such legislation includes the creation of foundation hospitals in England and the vote on proposals to introduce university top-up fees, in the Higher Education Act 2004.
Why is it important?
The West Lothian Question is important because the government went ahead to provide the Scots and the Welsh with Parliaments while not addressing the question. In other words the current government was fully aware that this would result in biased and discriminatory legislation which could be leveled against the English and which indeed, has been the case. The most alarming issue is the complete inability of the so-called opposition parties to propose and act against these acts by the Labour government. Given that the current government enjoys less than 22% of the vote of the electorate of the United Kingdom this current state of affairs points to a serious constitutional flaw in the Union's provisions.
The lack of effective action to counter such discrimination is likely to result in a default solution justified on the basis of popular demand for an English Parliament providing the English with the same levels of representation and decision-making power currently enjoyed by the Welsh and the Scots.
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