English Votes for English Laws

Wendy Chamberlain Excerpts

Tuesday 13th July 2021 Commons Chamber

[Wendy Chamberlain (North East Fife) (LD) [V]]

It is a pleasure to follow the hon. Member for Berwickshire, Roxburgh and Selkirk (John Lamont), a fellow member of the Scottish Affairs Committee, as well as, before him, the Chair, the hon. Member for Perth and North Perthshire (Pete Wishart).

During the independence referendum in Scotland in 2014, I was not a member and indeed had never been a member of any political party. I would describe myself as a typical no voter in that referendum—which was in many ways a great demonstration of engagement with the democratic processes, but in other ways a divisive debate that pitted family, friends and colleagues against one another—in that I kept my views to myself. Would I had continued in that vein, some might say. If that sounds familiar in relation to the subsequent Brexit referendum, too, that is partly because a referendum—popular democracy—is on the surface an easy way to resolve a complex issue. But when it comes into conflict with our system of parliamentary democracy, as it clearly did post both votes, the shortcomings of such an approach become clear, and that has been the issue with English votes for English laws.

As I sat, on 19 September 2014, watching the then Prime Minister, David Cameron, snatch defeat from the jaws of victory by pivoting immediately to plan to introduce EVEL without acknowledging the need to properly reflect on how the UK had evolved and developed in advance of its parliamentary systems, it was easy to see—even for me, as a layperson then—that this was the wrong approach. Telling Scots, regardless of their vote in the independence referendum, that the first steps of their Prime Minister was to prevent their representatives in this place from participating fully and telling those in other devolved nations that their voices would also be neutered, was giving the SNP and others an ongoing grievance publicity point at every single vote.

It is important to remember that, when we talk about a four nations approach, as we often do in this place—for me in all seriousness, for others perhaps less so—we are talking about Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland and the UK. It is right that those in England query how their views are best represented, and an increased prominence of regional Mayors during the pandemic perhaps suggests that the English are finally waking up to the democratic deficit that they experience. But creating a two-tier system in this place, where MPs held a mandate at 6 pm and had it withdrawn at the next vote at 8 pm, was never the answer. It certainly did not sound like all votes or constituents counted equally.

Where I agree with the hon. Member for Perth and North Perthshire and his party is that the systems here are broken and need to change. Where we disagree is that the answer to this broken system is to break away completely, causing economic and cultural damage to these islands—it is salt and vinegar. EVEL has been suspended now for an extended period of time and, frankly, no one has noticed because it has never been needed to offset the scenario for which it was put in place, because that scenario has never arisen. I hope that this is the first step by the Government to recognise political reality on these islands, but, frankly, I hae ma doots.