John Redwood’s contribution to Business of the House, 19 Jan

Mr John Redwood (Wokingham) (Con): May we have an early debate on who speaks for England and who should make decisions for England in an increasingly devolved United Kingdom?

The Leader of the House of Commons (Sir George Young): I understand my right hon. Friend’s concern. We announced on Tuesday the establishment of the West Lothian commission, which will look at a range of options. For example, with issues that affect only England and Wales, one option would be that only English and Welsh MPs voted on such matters. In my view, that would be an appropriate rebalancing of the constitution to take account of the fact that in Scotland they have their own Parliament in which issues are resolved on which English MPs cannot vote. It seems somewhat perverse that Scottish MPs can vote on those very same issues when they apply only to England.

1 Comment

  1. Mike Stallard
    January 24, 2012

    Do you know what I like so much about our host?
    He puts his money where his mouth is!

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