THE Government will come under pressure today as the Speaker of the House of Commons has allowed an urgent debate on plans to restrict the powers of Scottish MPs to take place this afternoon.
Orkney and Shetland MP Alistair Carmichael used a little-known Parliamentary standing order to ask John Bercow, the Speaker, to cancel today’s business and replace it with a debate on English votes for English Laws (Evel).
The SNP threw their support behind Carmichael’s call.
Making the case for the debate yesterday, Carmichael told the Commons chamber that there was a desperate need to discuss the process.
Many hours and days had, rightly, been allocated to discussing the Scotland Bill, Carmichael said, but Evel would be introduced in one sitting over the course of an afternoon.
“To seek to do this in one day by amendment to our standing orders may be technically competent but it is still an abuse of process. It is constitutionally outrageous and I fear that it puts a further unnecessary strain on the Union” said Carmichael.
Today’s debate will discuss the process of Evel.
SNP Shadow Leader of the House Pete Wishart MP welcomed the debate, and suggested the Speaker’s willingness to replace today’s business with the debate was telling.
Under the Tory plans for Evel, it will be up to the Speaker to decide if a bill or a clause within a bill is English only or English and Welsh only. It will be an unenviable position, with decisions likely to be challenged.
Wishart said: “The Tories’ English Votes for English Laws proposals are falling apart at the seams. The fact that the Speaker granted this debate suggests that he is unhappy about the invidious position it puts him in to designate business as English or England and Wales only.
“The unfairness and incompetence which characterise the Tories’ Evel plans have undoubtedly created a backlash. The UK Government should use the fact that their plans are unravelling as an opportunity to take them off the table completely.”
Scottish MPs argue Evel cannot work and will create two classes of MPs. Although many bills may seemingly only apply to England and Wales, they will have funding implications for Scotland.
The proposals were laid out to the Chamber last Thursday by leader of the House of Commons Chris Grayling, and were derided by opposition MPs. Labour and the SNP believe that with support from Welsh, Northern Irish and some backbench Tory MPs they may be able to defeat the government when the vote is held on July 15.
The problems with the proposals were illustrated yesterday when Aberdeen North MP Kirsty Blackman shared with the chamber an answer to a written question she had submitted to the Leader of the House of Commons.
Blackman has asked which bills the House had discussed recently could be considered as English only or English and Welsh only.
In the list of bills sent to Blackman, one that could be considered as suitable for England and Wales only was the Scotland Bill.
She said: “This is typical of the UK Government’s handling of English Votes on English Laws – it’s ham fisted and shambolic.”
Grayling’s office told reporters it was an administrative error.
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