An English vote is of less value
March 12, 2006 by Ken
Filed under The British Constitution
An English vote is of less value Times Letters
Sir – After listening yesterday to Lord Falconer’s rationale for devolution, I can see why the Government is so frightened of restricting votes on English laws to English MPs. It realises that, without the support of Scottish- and Welsh-elected MPs, it cannot be sure of pushing through English legislation at Westminster.
Lord Falconer (a Scot to boot) rejects the notion of English votes in Parliament for English laws (the only fair, affordable way forward) on the grounds that it will create two tiers of MPs.
This Government has already created two tiers of voters: Welsh and Scottish ones with a vote on their own legislation and also a say in English laws, and English voters with a vote only within their own borders. The English voter, as Tam Dalyell acknowledged long ago, has a voting deficit and this is the way the Government wishes to keep things, despite the advice of select committees, and discontent of English voters.
Prof Jeremy Dibble, Durham University
Technorati Tags: devolution, english-laws, english-legislation, english-votes-in-parliament, tam-dalyell
