The Conservatives have described the need to resolve the West Lothian Question as a "major constitutional issue, one on which the future of the United Kingdom rests."
Speaking at the launch of a report by the Conservative Democracy Task Force, chaired by former chancellor Ken Clarke on the West Lothian Question, Nick Herbert, the Shadow Justice Secretary at Westminster, said the answer should take a number of key principles into account: that the Union must be maintained, that elected representatives should be accountable to their constituents for the decisions they make, and that the constituent parts of the Union must have arrangements appropriate to their needs. "It must be right to act now to address a question which, if left unanswered, will allow English resentment to ferment," he said.
Clarke has devised a solution to the West Lothian question, whereby Scottish MPs would be banned from voting at the committee and report stage of bills relating to England, when the detailed debate takes place. But they would still be allowed to vote at the earlier second reading stage, when the broader principles are discussed, and the third reading stage, when the bill as a whole is voted on by MPs. The plan has not yet formally been adopted as Conservative party policy.
Clarke said that the situation was the "last anomaly" to be resolved after the Labour government introduced devolution almost a decade ago.
He said, on BBC Radio 4's Today programme: "You can have a functioning British UK government which is in charge of UK votes but the English will be able to stop details of the legislation, the specific measures, being forced on England by a majority of MPs comprising people who were not elected to represent English constituencies and would not be able to do this in their own constituencies.”
Commenting on the publication of the report of the Democracy Task Force, David Mundell, Shadow Secretary of State for Scotland, said: "I welcome the report by Ken Clarke and his team. It is right that we, as a party, consider its recommendations carefully in preparing our manifesto. We have to find a fairer way forward.
"As the Scottish Conservatives have consistently said, by leaving the West Lothian Question unanswered within the devolution settlement, Labour not only stood in the way of fully accountable and fair government for the other parts of the UK but also handed a gift to those on both sides of the border who wish to see Scotland wrenched out of the Union.
"Throughout all this, I have pointed out that we Scots are a fair-minded people. The Scottish population simply have no wish for their elected representatives to have the decisive say in the drafting of England-only, or England and Wales-only, legislation. This legislation ought to be shaped by only those who are directly accountable to constituents who are affected by it. This simple but essential principle has already been accepted for devolved Scottish legislation, by means of the Scottish Parliament.”
The SNP Westminster leader, Angus Robertson, said “there is more than a whiff of irony” about the proposals, “given it was the last Conservative government, and English MPs, that imposed the iniquitous Poll Tax on Scotland.”
However, he added: “Of course, having suffered the imposition of unpopular policies by English Tories when Scotland was resolutely opposed, it is wrong for the opposite to prevail today, and Labour have continued the same undemocratic practices which were used by Ken Clarke’s own party.
“SNP MPs already refrain from voting on exclusively English, Welsh and Northern Irish matters. This self-denying ordinance stands in contrast to Labour, Lib Dem and Conservative members who, to date, have seemed happy to impose their will on the other nations within the UK.
“The SNP wants all powers currently exercised by the UK House of Commons to be returned to an independent Scotland. In the meantime SNP parliamentarians vote on matters which have a direct or significant indirect impact on Scotland, including UK constitutional affairs.
“In pursuing Scottish independence the SNP underlines its commitment to our friends and neighbours in England, Wales and Ireland.
“As neighbours and best of friends we will each be able to make our own decisions, and to co-operate as equals without any need for the Conservatives constitutional contortions.”
Readers have left 2 comments. 1. Conservative task force publishes idea for ‘West Lothian solutio
Keith McBurney, Unregistered It's a just step in the right direction and provides them with a holding position pending the outcome of the elections in 2009, 2010 and 2011. No major party will openly address the issue of combining Independence and Union until then. That said, this unique accommodation of Independence and Union in Confederation is recognised as a threat by the top down, centralist, majorial, self-serving British and EU polity who will wait and see before deciding what is best for them for us. It is also recognised as an opportunity by the bottom-up, decentralised, co-operative, consensual, mainstream, independently minded social democrats of all hues who are addressing the matter of liberty, equality and humanity in an interdependent world, free of cash for votes dependent electorates. Getting the able disabled back to work is the first step to weaning the bairns off such cashback bribes. In that respect, Glasgow East may be too soon if the Labour vote turns out. In contrast, Howden is more promising if the 42 day sentence without trial is to have a judicial impact at sunrise when first if ever invoked before the Conservative possibility of repeal in sunset 2010.
The missing parts of the puzzle are the pieces: us - we, the people who should not be content to sit back as events unfold at a pace the major parties and their paymasters can control. Our own, separate Citizens' Constitutional Conventions to individually and severally self-determine the process of our engagement with each other, before then doing so again on the fundamental issue of our preferences for the body politic within and between our nations and communities both here and further afield. Bottom up stands. Top down is unstable. It is that simple.
I look forward to Charter 88's pregnant deliberations this weekend in recognition that neither Conservative nor Labour maladministrations' do democratic delivery. The answer is in our own hands: it always was, it always will be.
Sovereignty and Confederacy: the antidotes to Unions' Blues.
Aye Ours
Keith
2. Conservative task force publishes idea for ‘West Lothian solutio
Keith McBurney, Unregistered Corrections to foregoing:
Para 1 should begin: 'Its just a step' ......
Para 2, 2nd sentence should begin: ' Instead, we should mount' ......
Related news items:
|
Holyrood news 
