English law veto could lose support in Scotland

The British government's plans to give English MPs a veto over legislation that is designated as affecting England only could encourage more Scots to vote for independence, Scottish first minister Nicola Sturgeon has said.

Under the plan presented to MPs, the Speaker of the House of Commons will have powers to designate whether legislation affects the UK as a whole, or is confined to England, or England and Wales. In these latter cases, MPs from Scotland, and Northern Ireland, will be prevented from voting on it during committee stage votes, but will be able to vote at the first and final stage.

"It is not right that a Scottish, Welsh or Northern Irish MP should be able to decide what happens on education in my constituency, whereas I have no say whatever the other way around," Commons leader Chris Grayling said.

Double majority

Meanwhile, English, or English and Welsh MPs, will have powers to block House of Lords amendments impacting only on their constituencies – where a double majority of the full House of Commons and of English MPs would be needed to accept amendments.

In the past, Scottish National Party MPs have largely – but not entirely – excluded themselves from voting on legislation affecting south of the border, but that policy changed in the wake of the party’s stunning gains in the May election.

The Conservatives' plan, pledged by prime minister David Cameron just hours after last year's referendum result, is fraught with difficulties since it is not always clear where the geographical lines between legislation lie.

Some policy issues are clear – such as rules governing schools and hospitals – but actions affecting public spending have a knock-on effect on the size of the treasury grant that is paid by Whitehall to Stormont and Edinburgh.

‘Devolutionary journey’

Leading academics questioned the plan. Professor Charlie Jeffery said the government “is trying to get across the finishing line without putting in the hard yards at the start of England’s devolutionary journey”.

Professor Michael Kenny warned that the plans could exacerbate constitutional tensions across the UK and encourage fears that the Conservatives are setting out on a journey towards the creation of an English parliament.

Following the election, the Scottish first minister was careful not to see the SNP’s gains as offering a mandate to hold a second referendum quickly, though she has left plenty of wriggle room to exploit events in Westminster.

“I have been very clear that, at least in part, the level of support for independence will be determined by what the Tory government at Westminster does, as well as what the SNP government does.

“There is no question the great disrespect shown to Scotland in these proposals is likely to have more people asking whether Westminster is capable of representing Scotland’s interests at all,” she said when questioned about the move.