Analysis: Devolution may provide England with an answer to the West Lothian Question

A SENIOR Conservative politician who sat on David Cameron’s democracy taskforce has said that demands for “devo-max” or full economic powers for Holyrood have boosted the case for restricting Scottish MPS voting on English only issues.

Roger Gough, a Conservative councillor from Kent, said that what he suggested was the growing support for devo-max highlighted in “spades” the West Lothian Question over Scottish, Welsh and Northern Irish MPs voting on purely English matters.

Mr Gould, who was part of the taskforce set up by Mr Cameron to look at issues such as devolution and parliamentary powers, made the comments during a speech at a conference organised by the Royal Society of Edinburgh on Scotland’s future relationship with the UK.

He said there was an even stronger case now for Scottish MPs to be banned from voting on the committee and report stages of parliamentary bills at Westminster, as recommended by the party’s democracy taskforce in 2006.

He said: “We can look at what’s happened since 2008 and the move towards devo-max, which raises the West Lothian question in spades.

“The further you go in terms of the devolution of powers top Scotland, than the sharper the development of the West Lothian question and the strengthening of the case for a change.

“Under the proposals previously put forward there would be two stages at which only English MPS voted on matters that only affected England like foundation hospitals for example.

“What it does is stop the situation where England has things pushed onto it that English MPS don’t want. It would create elements of an English Parliament.

“The issue is that the debate about devo-max strengthens the dilemma of the West Lothian question.”

However former Labour First Minister Henry McLeish has criticised the Tory councillor’s intervention and he has repeated his call for a second question in the referendum on greater powers.

Mr McLeish said: “I’m not sure we need lectures from Tory councillors about the question of Scottish MPs not being able to vote on English matters.

“The West Lothian question will be resolved, but we now need a debate on a second question in the referendum as an alternative to the status quo and independence.”