ANKARA
The new Conservative government in the U.K is expected to push ahead with a proposal to limit the powers of MPs from the devolved regions of Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland.
Philip Hammond, the Foreign Secretary under the previous government, said in a statement to the UK parliament at the end of last year that the Conservatives will continue with plans to devolve more powers to Scotland and also press ahead with plans for "English votes for English laws".
At the same time, the powers of the regional parliaments to legislate in their own territories are expected to see a considerable increase.
The SNP, which has also accomplished a considerable electoral victory, winning 56 seats in the U.K. parliament, will be pushing hard for such an objective.
“Balancing the demands of the SNP and those of English voters, who very much support ‘English votes for English laws', will be a tricky business for Prime Minister David Cameron,” warned Guy Lodge, an analyst with the Institute for Public Policy Research in London.
Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland were allotted their own parliaments in 1998 with specific powers to make laws which apply in their regions under “devolution”.
But the regions also elect MPs to the U.K. national parliament where they vote on affairs which affect both their own regions and England.
A movement in the UK referred to as the “West Lothian Question" - named after MP Tom Dalyell who represents the Scottish town of West Lothian and who first raised the issue in the U.K. parliament in 1977 - seeks to ring-fence laws which affect only England so that they cannot be influenced by legislators from the devolved regions.
At the end of last year, Cameron asked then-Foreign Affairs Minister William Hague to create a proposal to help resolve the West Lothian Question.
Hague, on Dec. 16, 2014, published a paper which laid out the following options:
- A decision would need to be made on how the principle of giving English MPs a greater say over English issues, or English and Welsh MPs a greater say over English and Welsh issues, could be applied in procedural terms.
- A mechanism would be needed to determine which legislation should be subject to any new procedures.
- Which MPs should be entitled to vote on England or England and Wales matters.
- There would be issues about whether the government would have a majority in votes on issues that have been ring-fenced.
- Parliament might consider whether the membership of select committees should reflect the extent to which the issues they address were devolved, for example with only English MPs serving on committees considering predominantly English issues (or English and Welsh MPs for predominantly English and Welsh issues).
Alan Trench, a lawyer who is an expert on devolution issues, said: “By far, the most difficult issue is deciding which laws affect only England, and which ones will be applied to the entire U.K."
"A proposal regarding the English section of the National Health Service might draw financing away from regional sections of the NHS. There will be many technical issues of this kind that need to be resolved."
Despite the technical obstacles that will have to be resolved, the new government will be obliged to take action on the issue, he said.
He warned: “The SNP has been promised a large extension of the powers of the Scottish parliament."
"When they are granted these new powers, the English voters are going to be angry if the West Lothian Question isn’t being discussed at the same time."
Under consideration are an increase in Scotland's tax-raising and borrowing powers, and the devolution of control over parts of welfare and social security.
Under the Scotland Act 2012, from 2016 Scotland will already set its own income tax rate, raising £5.6 billion ($8.5 billion) worth of its own spending.
In Wales, all the parties – including senior figures in the Tory party – are debating seeking more legislative powers, including control over policing, currently reserved to Westminster, and their first powers over tax-raising.
The Northern Ireland assembly at Stormont already has wide-ranging, substantial autonomy, but has been pressing for control over corporation tax.
“All of this means that we are likely to see the government address the West Lothian Question right at the start,” Lodge added.
