|
The West Lothian question, also known as the English question, refers to whether MPs from Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales, sitting in the House of Commons of the United Kingdom, should be able to vote on matters that affect only England, while MPs from England are unable to vote on matters that have been devolved to the Northern Ireland Assembly, the Scottish Parliament and the Welsh Assembly. The term "West Lothian question" was coined by Enoch Powell MP in 1977 after Tam Dalyell, the Labour MP for the Scottish constituency of West Lothian, raised the matter repeatedly in House of Commons debates on devolution. In 2011 the Government of the United Kingdom set up a commission to examine the question. The Commission on the consequences of devolution for the House of Commons, chaired by former Clerk of the House of Commons Sir William McKay, published a report in 2013 which proposed various procedural changes, including that legislation which affects only England should require the support of a majority of MPs representing English constituencies ("English votes for English laws"). Following the election of a Conservative government in the 2015 general election, new parliamentary procedures and an English Grand Committee were enacted. ==Background== The underlying constitutional issue was raised by William Gladstone in 1886. During his speech on the first Irish Home Rule bill in 1886 he said: If Ireland is to have domestic legislation for Irish affairs they cannot come here for English or Scottish affairs. The "West Lothian Question" itself was first posed in 1977 during a British House of Commons debate about Scottish and Welsh devolution proposals. In the 14th November sitting, Tam Dalyell, the Labour MP for the Scottish constituency of West Lothian, asked, For how long will English constituencies and English Honourable members tolerate ... at least 119 Honourable Members from Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland exercising an important, and probably often decisive, effect on English politics while they themselves have no say in the same matters in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland?〔(【引用サイトリンク】title=SCOTLAND BILL )〕 To illustrate his point he chose the example of a member of parliament (MP) for West Lothian who could vote on matters affecting the English town of Blackburn (in Lancashire), but not on matters concerning the Blackburn in his own constituency. The name "West Lothian question" was later coined by the Ulster Unionist MP Enoch Powell in a response to Dalyell's speech, when he said "We have finally grasped what the Honourable Member for West Lothian is getting at. Let us call it the West Lothian question." Today, the question is more commonly assumed to refer to the anomaly that Scottish, Welsh and Northern Ireland members at Westminster can vote upon English matters, while MPs for English constituencies have no influence on affairs which are devolved to Scotland, Wales or Northern Ireland.〔(【引用サイトリンク】title=Q&A: The West Lothian Question )〕 Dalyell was a vocal opponent of Scottish devolution in the 1979 and 1997 plebiscites. A devolved Scottish Parliament was created in 1999 after a clear majority voted in favour of devolution in the second referendum. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「West Lothian question」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
|