http://fore.wordpress.com/2007/04/05/tory-split/ Sun, 01 Mar 2009 18:20:21 +0000 http://wordpress.com/ hourly 1 http://fore.wordpress.com/2007/04/05/tory-split/#comment-5 Mark Tue, 10 Apr 2007 09:24:11 +0000 http://fore.wordpress.com/2007/04/05/tory-split/#comment-5 There is an obvious democratic deficit with Labour using it's Scottish constituency MPs to force through policies on England that the Scottish Parliament controls north of the border. As a Scot I can say with some certainty that the great majority of Scots sympathise with the idea of our MPs abstaining in order to allow 'English votes on English issues', and the refusal of Labour to do so is motivated purely out of political self-interest and not out of any need to have 'a single class of British MP'. We don't need to create two classes of MP, simply having the Speaker reccommend to the House that it is a purely English affair would be enough to effectively create an English Parliament without any need for creating unequal MPs. But to split the Conservative Party would be an equally dishonourable, politically motivated act. As wrong as the present system is, it is nothing compared to the wrong of having a UK Government that only English and Welsh voters had the option to choose. With no candidates in Scotland, and an effective ban on Scots leading that government, such a government would have no mandate to rule over all the UK. England is unfairly treated at present, but with five out of six MPs representing English constituencies, it is a limited unfairness. The fact remains that no UK government can be elected if it is significantly opposed by English voters. Splitting the Conservative Party would perhaps make political sense, but it would create a constitutional unfairness far greater than what exists now, and potentially would be far more damaging to the Union. There is an obvious democratic deficit with Labour using it’s Scottish constituency MPs to force through policies on England that the Scottish Parliament controls north of the border. As a Scot I can say with some certainty that the great majority of Scots sympathise with the idea of our MPs abstaining in order to allow ‘English votes on English issues’, and the refusal of Labour to do so is motivated purely out of political self-interest and not out of any need to have ‘a single class of British MP’. We don’t need to create two classes of MP, simply having the Speaker reccommend to the House that it is a purely English affair would be enough to effectively create an English Parliament without any need for creating unequal MPs. But to split the Conservative Party would be an equally dishonourable, politically motivated act. As wrong as the present system is, it is nothing compared to the wrong of having a UK Government that only English and Welsh voters had the option to choose. With no candidates in Scotland, and an effective ban on Scots leading that government, such a government would have no mandate to rule over all the UK. England is unfairly treated at present, but with five out of six MPs representing English constituencies, it is a limited unfairness. The fact remains that no UK government can be elected if it is significantly opposed by English voters. Splitting the Conservative Party would perhaps make political sense, but it would create a constitutional unfairness far greater than what exists now, and potentially would be far more damaging to the Union.

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