IN a congested Queen’s Speech of 24 bills I suppose the Tories thought they might just get away with it. Where all the measures announced in the Queen’s Speech were assigned to their corresponding bills, the Tories' plans for "English votes for English laws" was accompanied instead with a note saying that the "Government will bring forward changes to the Standing Orders of the House".
This is important. The "Standing Orders of the House" are the rules which govern the activities of the House of Commons. This is usually where sitting times, holidays, election for the Speaker, etc, are recorded. It is not a place where one of the most profound changes to membership of the House should be considered. Let’s be clear. Changing the voting rights of Scottish MPs is perhaps the biggest single change to the membership rights of members of the House of Commons in decades. There are issues of huge constitutional interest as well as questions about our ability to represent our constituents.
What this requires is absolute diligence, utmost consideration and a look at all the issues that change of such significance demands. What is required is the usual Parliamentary Bill and legislation that will allow all stages of Parliament to scrutinise, debate and amend this measure as it goes through Parliament. Passing something like Evel with a simple change to the House rules is simply unacceptable and almost unprecedented.
Evel could consign Scottish MPs to a second-class status. We could be denied the opportunity to vote on apparently English only legislation which may have consequences for our Scottish constituents. Yet the Tories seem to want to rush this through at break-neck speed and to hang with the consequences.
The thing is, SNP MPs don’t vote on English-only legislation that has no consequence for Scotland. We scour any legislation for the Scottish interest and if we conclude that there is none we stay away. What the Tories want to do with Evel is to dictate this process to us and try to deny us a say on issues that may have an impact on our constituents.
The Tories also don’t want proper scrutiny of Evel because their plans are a mess and they know it. Their favoured option for Evel is to let all MPs vote on the crucial second and third readings whilst creating an “English only" committee at committee stage. This leaves all MPs a say at the beginning of legislation and on the final draft after English MPs have done all the work. It means we get a say but we can’t amend. It doesn’t come dafter than that.
English votes for English laws is something we don’t necessarily have a problem with. What we do have a problem with is changing the status of Scotland’s MPs and thus infringing on our ability to fully represent our constituents. Doing it without proper scrutiny and debate just make this all the worse.
Pete Wishart is SNP MP for Perth and North Perthshire
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