TORY minister Chris Grayling will today be pressed on whether he will exclude Scots MPs from voting on plans to expand London’s Heathrow Airport as part of moves to restrict their voting rights.
SNP MP Ronnie Cowan will quiz the Leader of the House when he appears before an important Commons committee examining the UK Government’s English Votes for English Laws (Evel) plans.
The controversial proposals were passed by a majority of 42 MPs last month in what the SNP’s Pete Wishart described as a “dark, dark day for Scottish MPs”. A number of Westminster committees are considering how the measures will work in practice.
Speaking ahead of the session Cowan said he would press Grayling on the Heathrow issue, and also raise concerns that the legislation will create a two-tier structure of MPs.
“Grayling needs to make clear whether or not we will be able to vote on large-scale infrastructure projects such as the Heathrow expansion as these projects will be in part funded by Scottish taxpayers,” he said.
“There are still very serious questions to be asked over politicising the role of a speaker and the two-tier structure these changes will create within an already disunited house.”
The MP for Inverclyde is a member of the Public Administration and Constitutional Affairs Committee (PACAC) which is examining the issue.
Labour’s shadow Scottish Secretary Ian Murray denounced the changes as “an incomprehensible mess”.
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