Moral outrage doesn’t justify riding roughshod over democracy

Last week, Kim Leadbeater MP’s landmark Bill to legalise assisted dying in England & Wales was passed by the UK House of Commons by 330-275 votes.

The Campaign for an English Parliament has no position on assisted dying but it does on the shameful interference in this devolved matter by MPs elected in Scotland and Northern Ireland.

Scottish and Northern Irish MPs didn’t change the outcome of the vote but they were collectively responsible for reducing the majority in favour of the Bill by 20 votes. Despite being a devolved matter, 46 of Scotland’s 57 MPs and 10 of Northern Ireland’s 18 MPs voted on assisted dying in England & Wales, the majority voting against the measures.

There is no justification for the undemocratic interference of MPs in the domestic affairs of another member state of the UK and this is especially true of such an important and contentious issue.

For years we were told by British nationalists that an English Parliament was unnecessary and that English Votes on English Laws (or English Pauses for English Clauses to be more accurate) would solve the democratic deficit without the inconvenience of making England an equal member of the British Union. It was suspended during the pandemic to speed up the legislative process and subsequently abolished, having failed to make any meaningful impact other than confusing MPs.

The assisted dying Bill is just the latest of the regular reminders that the problem hasn’t gone away and that there is no plan to address it. If you live in England, ask your MP what they intend to do to ensure English laws are made by MPs that can be held to account by voters in England and let us know if you get an answer.