Voting changes
- 1 Jul 08, 06:58 PM
It was the votes of Scottish MPs which ensured that students at English universities have to pay top-up fees. Even though Scottish students at Scottish universities do not have to pay them, thanks to a decision of the Scottish Parliament.
That sort of thing, say the Tories, should never happen again. They've rejected one idea for dealing with it - the creation of an English Parliament alongside Westminster. They used to argue that the answer was English votes for English laws. In other words that Scottish MPs should be barred from voting on issues that only affect the English.
That of course would stop Gordon Brown from voting on schools and hospitals. It might also mean in future that a prime minister wouldn't have a majority in Parliament for much of his party's election manifesto.
That is why a committee led by Ken Clarke has today suggested watering down the idea saying that the government must be allowed to control its own agenda and its own budget, but that English MPs should be able to control the details of what is done in England in their name.
It's an idea that's been rejected by government ministers but also by another senior Conservative Sir Malcolm Rifkind, who argued that if English MPs only control amendments to new laws, tuition fees would still have been able to go through Parliament thanks to Scottish MPs' votes.
Ken Clarke's hope is that governments in future will be forced to do deals, to bargain as they do now with The House of Lords, with English MPs. What today demonstrates though is how hard it is to design something that deals with an English grievance and is actually workable and doesn't risk destroying the union which the Tories say they want to protect.
