Tories consider MP voting changes

[Solaris]

Scottish MPs should have fewer powers over legislation which applies only to England, Wales and Northern Ireland, a Conservative taskforce has said.
At present Scottish MPs can vote on measures which do not affect Scotland.
Ken Clarke's group says MPs from Wales and Northern Ireland should also lose some powers over English-only measures.
The proposals are not binding on the Conservatives, but shadow justice secretary Nick Herbert said they would "introduce greater fairness". Mr Clarke's committee suggests there should be voting restrictions when MPs look at the "committee stage" of a bill - when most in-depth amendments are discussed.

Source

Discuss

 

[Raziaar]

You could always share your opinion rather than just saying "discuss"

 

[Laivasse]

On the face of it this looks like it's just some right-wing, nationalistic, chest-beating attempt to reassert some bogus political sense of 'Englishness', but there are sound, rational reasons to make a change like this.

When you look at how the British government shamelessly bribed the nine Northern Irish DUP members to vote Yes on 42 Day Detention - a bill which was passed by nine votes in the end - it highlights the need to fix some of the clearly broken ways in which parliament currently operates. I don't know if 42 Day Detention would class as an 'english-only' measure, however, and so perhaps that particular travesty wouldn't have been prevented even if the above proposal had been in place, but it might at least be some kind of safeguard against the crappy pork-barrel politics our government has shown itself to be inclined to.

 

[Bob_Marley]

I would agree that the Scots shouldn't have votes on issues that don't affect them. Unless of course they want to give English, Welsh and NI MPs the power to vote in their parliament.

For issues that affect the whole of the UK, of course they should vote. But when it doesn't effect them until they decide to do it in their own parliament and/or issues that only affect England/Wales/NI they should not be permitted to vote.

 

[Mr Stabby]

On the face of it this looks like it's just some right-wing, nationalistic, chest-beating attempt to reassert some bogus political sense of 'Englishness', but there are sound, rational reasons to make a change like this.

When you look at how the British government shamelessly bribed the nine Northern Irish DUP members to vote Yes on 42 Day Detention - a bill which was passed by nine votes in the end - it highlights the need to fix some of the clearly broken ways in which parliament currently operates. I don't know if 42 Day Detention would class as an 'english-only' measure, however, and so perhaps that particular travesty wouldn't have been prevented even if the above proposal had been in place, but it might at least be some kind of safeguard against the crappy pork-barrel politics our government has shown itself to be inclined to.

There is really no evidence to suggest the DUP MPs were bribed, they were in talks with the British government anyway as the NI assembly is going through a turbulent patch. It's really not surprising they would support it due to there views on the PIRA. Though it's a UK issue not just an English one.

In regards to English MPs, voting on English issues seems fair to me, maybe England should get an Assembly.

 

[Laivasse]

Evidence as in some sneak camera footage or crackly dictaphone recording? No, of course not. The fact that Brown was bribing any and every MP he thought might go against him is evidence enough. If you were paying attention to the news you would have got wind of the ridiculous lengths the government were going to just before the vote - backbenchers who'd never interacted with Gordon Brown in their lives suddenly getting personal interviews and phone calls with the man.

Yorkshire miners are thought to have won a pledge from the Prime Minister that their campaign for compensation for 5,000 former miners with lung disease would get a favourable hearing.

Two members of the all-party Cuba group were told that the Government would not oppose attempts to lift European sanctions at a meeting of EU foreign ministers next week.

Diane Abbott suggested in the Commons that the governorship of Bermuda might be up for grabs, while there were hints that Keith Vaz, chairman of the Home Affairs Select Committee, was offered a knighthood, although this was strongly denied.

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/politics/article4116811.ece

The same source also lists all the things the DUP were rumoured to have been promised by the govt in exchange for a favourable vote. Then there's the fact that the DUP MPs didn't make their minds up until the last minute, then suddenly all voted the same way. Yes it's a rumour, but you have to be extremely naive to think that no such thing happened, especially when not one credible source has denied it. Even Brown's denials felt perfunctory. If the allegations were unfounded you would expect outrage, not the kind of weak protestations we got. Brown knew better than to belabour the point because he knew it would be suicide in light of all the MPs willing to tell their own stories of personal pork-barreling attempts.

And as I stated I am aware that 42 Days was probably a UK issue. My concern is that the government will follow up this flagrant example of vote-buying in future by offering concessions to non-English MP's over English-only issues, in which case the injustice of the outcome would be all the more keenly felt.

 

[Mr Stabby]

The DUP have been promised things to resolve an issue in the NI assembly, the sort of talks the Gov. had with the DUP allegedly over 42 days detention happen about once a month anyway. There no no evidence to suggest that those concession were related to that vote.

 

[Laivasse]

Concessions of up to 1.2 billion do not happen monthly. For the DUP to state 'we would have Voted Yes anyway' is not a credible position in light of those boons, but regardless of what direction they would have voted the government's intention in making those concessions is hard to dispute. As far as this govt is concerned, Scottish, NI and Welsh MPs are just a potential vote-buying shop when Brown needs to save face in parliament - that is the mentality demonstrated by the 42 Day dealings.

 

[Mr Stabby]

However the talks for the transfer of policing and justice powers to the NI assembly and the possibility of a Sinn Fein MP, being in charge of it, and changing the first minister happened to occur around the same time as the supposed 42 day detention talks. The DUP and UUP(who weren't offered anything), are quite socially conservative on issues of terrorism and security.