PLANS to introduce English votes for English laws (Evel) are a “dog’s breakfast”, an SNP MP has claimed ahead of a debate on the measures in the Commons today.
SNP Shadow Leader of the House, Pete Wishart MP, said the Tories had managed to convince no one of the “quality of [Cameron’s] plans”.
“All other political parties are opposed to them, all the devolved assemblies and parliaments are resolutely against.
“Even the unelected House of Lords and the Tory-dominated Procedure Committee have a range of issues and concerns. The lack of consensus on such a huge constitutional change should be enough for the Leader of the House to think again.”
The Government has lost support from Northern Ireland’s DUP on the vote, with the party’s leader Nigel Dodds saying the proposals “do not solve the challenges facing the Union, either in England or elsewhere”.
Speaking after a highly critical committee report on the Evel measures, Dodds goes on to say the Tory plans may weaken the Union: “I would expect the Government – whose Unionism I do not doubt – to listen and reflect and not to press on with measures which in their current form will only do further harm.”
Wishart continued: “Our concerns remain the same as when this process started.
“They will make Scottish MPs second class in the unitary UK Parliament, they will politicise the office of Speaker in forcing him to take the decision to exclude Scottish MPs from bills, and they create an unnecessary new level of Parliamentary procedure in a very tight Parliamentary timetable.
“The Scottish people have been watching the activities of the Tory UK Government very closely and what they are observing is this Tory Government making Scottish MPs second class in the UK Parliament and then using their votes to deny progress in the Scotland Bill.
“The Tories couldn’t be making the case for independence any better than the way they have treated Scotland since the last election.”
He added: “These plans simply exacerbate the further alienation of Scotland from the UK Parliament.’’
Why are you making commenting on The National only available to subscribers?
We know there are thousands of National readers who want to debate, argue and go back and forth in the comments section of our stories. We’ve got the most informed readers in Scotland, asking each other the big questions about the future of our country.
Unfortunately, though, these important debates are being spoiled by a vocal minority of trolls who aren’t really interested in the issues, try to derail the conversations, register under fake names, and post vile abuse.
So that’s why we’ve decided to make the ability to comment only available to our paying subscribers. That way, all the trolls who post abuse on our website will have to pay if they want to join the debate – and risk a permanent ban from the account that they subscribe with.
The conversation will go back to what it should be about – people who care passionately about the issues, but disagree constructively on what we should do about them. Let’s get that debate started!
Callum Baird, Editor of The National
Comments: Our rules
We want our comments to be a lively and valuable part of our community - a place where readers can debate and engage with the most important local issues. The ability to comment on our stories is a privilege, not a right, however, and that privilege may be withdrawn if it is abused or misused.
Please report any comments that break our rules.
Read the rules here