THE establishment of the Scottish Parliament in 1999 created a gross injustice at the heart of the British political system.
With remarkable prescience Dalyell, who sat for West Lothian, asked “for how long will English constituencies and English honourable members tolerate” Scottish MPs “exercising an important and probably often decisive effect on English politics while they themselves have no say in the same matters in Scotland?”
When Labour finally succeeded in implementing its devolutionary plans after Tony Blair’s landslide general election victory it refused to address the problem.
The party’s irresponsible answer to the West Lothian question was not to ask it. That approach today is completely untenable. Not only has the rise of nationalism transformed the political landscape in Scotland but English resentment is rightly growing at the requirement to subsidise the ever more expensive separatist fiefdom run by Nicola Sturgeon.
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Tam Dalyell was the first politician to raise the question about fairness in the system
Our rulers are fond of trumpeting their contempt for any form of discrimination yet we now have institutionalised discrimination against the English on an epic scale.
At least the Tories are now trying to do something about it. Last week they pushed through the Commons a limited measure which will tackle some of the extreme unfairness created by devolution. Under a new Bill masterminded by Commons leader Chris Grayling, English MPs will be given a power of veto over legislation that affects only England.
This will be done through two new parliamentary bodies: an English committee, which will consider Bills deemed to be “England-only in their entirety”, and a Legislative Grand Committee, which will examine individual clauses of Bills which relate only to England.
Although somewhat cumbersome this scheme could hardly be more reasonable. At least it begins to answer the West Lothian question.
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Tony Blair’s government did not address the problem
Far more ridiculously the SNP wails that the English veto is a threat to the existence of the United Kingdom.
Yet the SNP’s outrage against Grayling’s legislation is even more ill-judged. A year ago the nationalists haughtily declared that the question of an English veto was irrelevant to Scotland, “an issue that the Scottish people could not care less about,” to use the words of SNP MP Pete Wishart.
Today they are claiming that the plan is unfair and will destroy the equality of status among MPs.
What they fail to recognise is that under the current unjust arrangement English MPs already have second-class status, devoid of any say over devolved matters.
Far more ridiculously the SNP wails that the English veto is a threat to the existence of the United Kingdom.
The real fault of Grayling’s plan is that it does not go nearly far enough. It does not represent the ideal of English votes for English laws, which is what much of the public wants.
Ultimately, to give the English their full rights, an even more radical step is needed.
If home rule is good enough for Scotland it is certainly good enough for the great nation of England.
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