300 years since the Union. What is the West Lothian Question?

Question

Well put breezyco

Answer 1

The West Lothian Question was formulated by Tam Dalyell, then MP for the constituency of West Lothian, in the 1970s when devolution was first being considered. Incidentally, Dalyell became Father of the House later than he formulated the question: he was just a back bencher in the 1970s.

The West Lothian question is how, if powers are devolved to a Scottish Parliament, can Scottish MPs and English MPs have equal status in the Westminster Parliament, as is needed if they are to be equal in voting on Westminster issues like defence, if Scottish MPs can vote on questions concernig only England, whilst English MPs have no right to vote on issues devolved to the Scottish Parliament.

Tam Dalyell was for many years the only old-Etonian Labour MP. (Mark Fisher was more recently elected as old-Etonian Labour MP forStoke on Trent). His family seat, in his West Lothian constituency, is The Binns: the head of the family, i.e. Tam Dalyell, used to be known as "Black Tam O' The Binns". Tam Dalyell has inherited a baronetcy but does not use the title "Sir". Despite this background he was one of the more radical (Tribune Group, which became the Campaign Group) MPs. He is also famous in connection with the sinking of the Belgrano, exposing inconsistencies in Thatcher's statements that it was steering towards the Falklands at the time it was sunk. I thought you might like to know this human interest, as it is less arid than the West Lothian question itself!

Answer 2

The West Lothian question was posed by the West Lothian MP Tam Dayall as Father of the House. He said - " How is it that I can vote on an issue affecting Blackburn in Lancashire but not on a question affecting Blackburn in West Lothian which is in my constituency?"

Basically Tam was asking how it is possible for a Scottish MP of a Scottish constituency based in Westminister to vote on purely English matters when neither he nor other English MP's can vote on Scottish matters as these have been devolved to the Scottish Parliment.

The crux of the issue is that it raises the issue of Scottish MP's being able to vote down issues that don't affect them if the English MP's are voting closely. (I think that out of 625 MP's there are over 50 that have Scottish seats.)

Answer 3

It's the Midlothian Question, not the West. Should a Scots MP be allowed to vote on a matter affecting England which may have already been decided another way in Scotland (eg Foundation Hospitals, which were turned down by the Scottish Parliament)

Answer 4

Should a Scottish MP get to vote on matters that only affect the English.