Reply from the 'Ministry of Justice'

Further to my article on Our Kingdom, in which I say that the West Lothian Question and Barnett Formula are intricately tied, I bring you this letter from the Ministry of Justice to back up my case.

Thank you for your email to the Ministry of Justice dated 28 March 2008. Your email has been forwarded to the Constitutional Settlement Division as the lead area on devolution matters.

Your email refers to the Ipsos Mori poll which displays figures of the public’s view of Scottish MPs being involved in English matters. You note that 46% of the population who took part in this poll were dissatisfied with Scottish MPs voting on English issues.

A fundamental principle of our UK constitution is that all MPs have equal rights in Parliament, whether they represent English, Scottish or Welsh constituencies. As indicated by the Prime Minister on 03 July 2007 [House of Commons Hansard, 03 July, col. 818] the Government does not accept the proposal for English votes for English laws. To do so would be to create two distinct classes of MPs – those who could vote on all matters before the House, and those whose voting rights would be curtailed by virtue of constituency location. MPs play a representative role in considering legislation, considering the welfare of the UK as a whole, rather than narrow geographic interests, and it is right that all MPs continue to have equal voting rights on all matters before the UK Parliament.

The Government is of the view that even matters which may appear confined to England may have an impact on the United Kingdom as a whole. For instance, the funding settlement with the nations and regions of the United Kingdom, means that what is decided on public funding in England affects Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. These are national issues for the United Kingdom and should be debated at the national Parliament by all MPs representing the United Kingdom, not by subsets depending on the location of their constituency.

I hope this addresses your concerns.

My response:

Dear Miss Samplay,

You are correct to draw my attention to the fact that funding in England determines the levels of funding in the other nations of the UK. On this basis non-English constituency MPs have every right to vote on English matters because of the knock-on effect that it has for their own constituents.

However, the Barnett Formula is widely discredited and should not be used as your raison d'être for Scottish MPs continuing to vote on matters that are of no concern to their constituents; matters on which Scottish MPs are unelected and not directly accountable to any voter be they English or Scottish (Scottish voters elect Ministers to the Scottish Parliament to represent them in areas such as Education, Transport and Health).

The Barnett Formula does not mitigate the West Lothian Question. The public want an answer to the West Lothian Question AND they want the Barnett Formula reformed or scrapped, so please don't demean yourself by citing one injustice in defence of the other.

And I should remind you that the votes, and influence, of Scottish MPs and ministers help to determine England's finances when they are not directly accountable to anyone in England.

The original letter was as follows:

Dear ‘Ministry of Justice’,

Are you aware of the new MORI research that finds that Scottish MPs voting on English matters is the most annoying constitutional problem of the constitutional debacle we laughingly refer to as the United Kingdom?

"The public … are most likely to be dissatisfied with Scottish MPs being able to vote on English issues (46% are dissatisfied with this)."

What does the Government, or the MoJ, intend to do about this to help restore public confidence in politicians and democracy?

Many thanks,