Wednesday, June 27, 2007

Brown to ignore the West Lothian Question

It should come as no surprise really, but it looks as if Gordon brown is planning to simply ignore the West Lothian Question altogether. He has also made it quite clear that he sees no problem in the idea that Scottish MPs can vote on matters affecting England but not the other way round. In the Independent's "You Ask the Questions" this morning he was asked,
Do you think it's right that you can vote in Parliament on issues affecting English people but English MPs can't vote on issues affecting your own Scottish constituents?
His response ignored the question entirely and answered something completely different saying,
"I think a system where MPs from Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland were excluded from voting in the Commons would inevitably lead to the break-up of the Union so I will never support it."
Now, as I say, it should come as no surprise that he will ignore this question, after all, he's a Scot that represnts a Scottish seat, plus without Scotland the Labour Party is screwed. Given this, it should, in my view, be the case that the West Lothian issue is relentlessly pursued as a matter of democratic principle.

7 comments:

Christopher Glamorgan said...

The trouble is that a lot of others won't be ignoring this question, and others. It'll be interesting to see what will become the major hurdles for him in his first year - so many to choose from! :>D

Old BE said...

Labour like to pretend that it's an esoteric question for geeks. What they don't realise is that many many people are very angry about the extra money that Scotland and Wales get and the services which England pays for but is denied.

What about English MPs being "excluded" from voting on Scottish and Welsh matters?

I hope the Union does break up a.s.a.p.

Anonymous said...

What a way to shoot the Tory fox and seperate himself from Bliar's legacy of constitutional mess.

The time to address this issue is now.

Anonymous said...

That is fan-fucking-tastic.

If the cyclopean cunt really thinks the people of England are going to put up with much more of this shite then he is sorely mistaken.

If nothing is done about this issue (and this article strongly suggests nothing will be done) before the next election then I think this is the issue that will lose the election for Labour...

Come on, the SNP are abolishing tuition fees, and loads of drugs and treatments are going to become available to Scots and not the English. Some of the papers are going to pick up on this and be relentless about it.

btw have you noticed the way Gordon's Scottish accent has practically dissapeared in the last couple of weeks? You are now entering the NO-SPIN zone! Hahahahahahahahahahahahaaaaaa

zorro

hatfield girl said...

Bullying by the English Labour government will only unite the Scottish behind their Government.

The consideration daily of issues that until the loss of power by Labour where settled without consultation is having great effect in raising support for the Scottish government, and reducing the Labour Opposition to a rabble.

The transfers to Scotland are unacceptable to the English already, never mind the growing awareness that the English government is regularly being told to hand over the money and go away.

pwr said...

It is probably worth remembering that the Scotland Act is an Act of the United Kingdom Parliament which can be amended by the United Kingdom Parliament alone. Any Holyrood legislation falls under the powers conferred by this Act. Westminster retains the power to legislate on any and all matters regardless of whether they are devolved or not. English MP's *can* vote on Scottish matters, they just choose not to.

hatfield girl said...

Of course; but consider the political fall out if the Scottish government is suspended, or even seriously threatened. Scotland isn't to be treated like Northern Ireland, it's a large, coherent, well-organized country, with a separate judicial system. Its government is determined on having a Home Civil Service asap too. And a reordering of fiscal powers and relationships with the English government.

There are no proper dispute settlement mechanisms set up either, just very deficient JMCs which have rarely functioned under the Labour regimes.