Scots and Welsh MP vote ban bid

Lord Baker says the laws are need to hold the UK together

Scottish and Welsh MPs would be banned from voting on issues which only affect England, under proposed new laws.

The so-called West Lothian question has plagued Westminster since before Labour devolved power to national assemblies.

Labour rebels were angered last year when the government relied on the votes of Scottish MPs to get student top-up fees and foundation hospitals through.

Ex-Tory home secretary Lord Baker, who is introducing a bill outlining a ban, said the situation was "unacceptable".

'Unfairness'

Labour's reduced majority since the general election means it could be relying more heavily on Scottish and Welsh votes to get controversial legislation on to the statute books.

But Lord Baker - who served in Margaret Thatcher's Cabinet - said: "There should be no legislation without representation."

He told BBC Radio 4's Today programme: "The supremacy of Westminster has been divided.

"You set up an institution in Scotland - the Scottish Parliament - with legislation-making powers and the government is putting a Bill through Parliament to give the Welsh Assembly virtually the same powers.

"That changes everything, because we have devolved to Scotland control of domestic issues".

And he warned: "The only way we are going to keep the UK together is by not accepting a manifest unfairness for England."

Devolved power

Labour's Tam Dalyell first raised the West Lothian question, named after his then constituency, in the 1970s.

The problem was highlighted last year, when the government's proposal for a partial ban on smoking in English pubs passed the committee stage in the Commons by a single vote from a Scottish MP, to whose constituency the legislation did not apply, Lord Baker said.

Under the Conservative peer's proposals, the Speaker would prevent MPs and peers from voting on bills, or parts of a bill, that did not apply to their constituents.

These would normally be in areas such as health, education and transport where power has been devolved to Cardiff or Edinburgh.

It would not affect UK-wide legislation, such as defence, finance or immigration policy.

'Unworkable'

England-only votes at Westminster were backed by David Davis during his failed bid for the Tory leadership and has not been ruled out as a future policy by victor David Cameron.

Liberal Democrat leadership contender Simon Hughes has said, if elected, he would prevent MPs not sitting for English seats voting on matters only affecting England.

The School of Public Policy, a leading consitutional think tank, said the West Lothian question would become increasingly controversial in the coming months as Labour relied on the votes of Scottish MPs to get health and education plans through the Commons.

But it described Lord Baker's proposals as "fundamentally unworkable" as they would effectively lead to English Parliament which it argued would "create more problems than it would solve".

The Bill, which stands little chance of becoming law without government backing, will be debated in the Lords in February.

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