NEWS from BOB WALTER MP
Member of Parliament for North Dorset
Date: 13th December 2006
Release: Immediate

BOB WALTER MP’s BILL WILL PROPOSE ANSWER TO WEST LOTHIAN QUESTION

Robert Walter MP (North Dorset) today (13th December) launched a NEW bid to stop Scottish MPs voting on issues that only affect England and Wales.

Bob Walter will today present his Private Members Bill, House of Commons (Participation) Bill, to answer the “West Lothian Question” and create a new constitutional settlement between the constituent parts of the United Kingdom. The Bill is ranked 6th in the list and will be debated in Second Reading on Friday 9th March

Bob Walter’s Bill will provide for the Speaker of the House of Commons to have power to determine the eligibility of members of the House to participate in certain legislative and other proceedings. When the Commons debate matters concerning England and Wales, MPs from Scotland and Northern Ireland will not be able to participate.

Tam Dalyell, Labour MP for the Scottish constituency of West Lothian, posed in 1977 and 1978, and again in 1998, the West Lothian question during a House of Commons debate over Scottish and Welsh devolution. The question is – how can it be right that MPs representing Scottish constituencies in the Parliament of the United Kingdom have the power to vote on issues affecting England (including those that don’t affect Scotland), but English MPs do not have the power to vote on Scottish issues?

The text will be based on a Bill introduced in the House of Lords in the last session by Lord Baker. Critically, however, Bob Walter’s Bill will rectify a number of the problems raised with Lord Bakers Bill. Lord Baker’s Bill would have enabled Northern Ireland legislation at Westminster to be determined solely by the Northern Ireland MPs which would be contravening the spirit of the accord that has been struck between the various parties. The new Bill will regard England and Wales as one, until such time as the Welsh Assembly might acquire primary legislative powers.

It is anticipated that Bob Walter’s House of Commons (Participation) Bill will receive a second reading on Friday 9th March 2007.

Before presenting the Bill today, Bob Walter said,

“The present stage of devolution is unfair in that Scottish MPs at Westminster can vote on English and Welsh domestic affairs for which they have no constituency responsibility.”

“My Bill will meet the call for “English votes on English laws”. I do not believe we need to create a separate English parliament. We already have 428 MPs elected from English constituencies; it is perfectly possible for them alone to consider English legislation.”

“It clearly unfair that a Scottish MP can exercise a decisive vote on matters that do not affect Scotland, whilst neither he nor his English counterparts have any role in similar Scottish legislation.”

END

The CEP rightly wonders what happened to the Democracy Taskforce that were supposed to be deciding on the feasibility of EVoEL before they introduced a bill on it.