Gordon Brown seeks to become Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, but since devolution to Scotland and Wales the Kingdom is not quite as united as it once was. Opposition parties and constitutionalists have begun to ask whether it is right for an MP elected in a Scottish constituency to become prime minister and form a government to draft and administer legislation concerning only England.

In Scotland the people elect a minister to the Scottish Parliament (MSP) to represent them on matters devolved to Scotland (health, education, transport, culture and sport). They also elect a Minister of Parliament (MP) to represent them at Westminster on 'reserved matters'. The people of Kirkcaldy and Cowdenbeath elected Gordon Brown on these reserved matters. No UK voter, whether they be English, Scottish, Irish or Welsh, elected Gordon Brown to represent them on health, education, transport, culture, sport, or any of the other policy areas that are delvoved to the Scottish Parliament.

Yet should Gordon Brown succeed Tony Blair to become prime minister, he will hand pick a UK cabinet government to govern England and run English domestic policy. He will select which MPs become ministers of English departments - ministers with English portfolios, to run, for example, the English NHS, or the Department of Health to give it its correct name. He will have no such power over the Scottish government that affects his own constituents in Scotland, the people to whom he is democratically accountable. This is the so called West Lothian Question writ large. The majority of people in Scotland and England believe that it is wrong for Scottish MPs to vote on English matters, and whether or not it is acceptable for a Scottish MP to become prime minister is related to this. Please let us know what you think.