ON the morning of September 19, 2014 David Cameron stood on the doorstep of No.10 Downing Street and said: “We have heard the voice of Scotland – and now the millions of voices of England must also be heard.”
English votes for English laws, he said, would be the decisive answer to the West Lothian Question.
In truth the question first posed by Tam Dalyell has no easy answer.
SNP MPs traditionally did not take part in votes on matters which had no direct impact on Scotland.
That’s relatively straightforward on issues such as fox hunting, although the party came under serious pressure to cast their votes on the recent Commons debate.
The problem becomes more complicated on issues such as the NHS. Although health is devolved to Holyrood in Scotland, decisions on public spending in England have a direct impact on the Scottish Government’s budget.
The plans unveiled by the UK Government yesterday downgrades and demotes Scottish MPs, effectively turning them into second class members of parliament.
It also tells those of us living in Scotland that our democratically elected representatives are not as important as the democratically elected representatives of the people living in England.
Many of us voted for independence last year because we felt the current political system was broken.
During the referendum campaign some supporters of the Union urged Scotland to stay within the UK and work to bring about the social changes we – and a significant number of people living elsewhere in Britain – wanted. In the event, Scotland voted to reject independence at that time.
Since the referendum we have taken the Unionists at their word and accepted the invitation they made. It has not been easy.
When Scotland looked like voting overwhelmingly for the SNP were were accused of planning an invasion of England.
When we elected 56 SNP MPs we were told we were trying to exert undue influence in Westminster.
When we asked for extra powers on top of those included in the Scotland Act we were consistently refused.
When the SNP asked for control over the money raised in Scotland we were told (again) that such power would wreck our economy.
But still we tried to make our point through the traditional procedures of Westminster.
Now the Conservatives plan to dilute the power of Scottish MPs in a move that has been described by the Father of the House,
Gerald Kaufman as undermining the whole basis of democracy in Britain. And they plan to do so, not by properly scrutinising new legislation, but by tinkering with relatively obscure procedural rules.
It remains to be seen if this is the “material change”
Nicola Sturgeon said would precipitate a fresh referendum. But make no mistake, future historians will point to this statement and say this was when the Tories gave up even pretending to care about Scotland.
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