West Lothian question

The West Lothian question is a question posed by Tam Dalyell, MP for the Scottish constituency of West Lothian during the debate over Scottish devolution in the 1970s, and which is still relevant after the 1999 establishment of the Scottish Parliament. The name was coined in 1977 by Enoch Powell.

The question is, if power over Scottish affairs is devolved to a Scottish Parliament, how can it be right that MPs representing Scottish constituencies in the Parliament of the United Kingdom still have the power to vote on equivalent issues affecting England and other parts of the UK? This could potentially be seen as an injustice, and was of particular significance as the Labour Party was (at the time) proposing devolution while reliant on Scottish MPs for its majority at Westminster.

With the creation of the Scottish Parliament, this anomaly has come into existence, though without great protest in England. While it seems unlikely that Scottish MPs will be prevented from voting on English domestic affairs, it is possible that the number of MPs to which Scotland is entitled (which is currently disproportionately high for its population) will be reduced.

External Links

• BBC News article on the question (http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/talking_politics/82358.stm)
• Article in The Guardian by Simon Hoggart (http://politics.guardian.co.uk/scotland/comment/0,9236,589017,00.html)
• Hansard text of a debate on the subject in 1998 (http://www.parliament.the-stationery-office.co.uk/pa/cm199798/cmhansrd/vo980304/debtext/80304-26.htm) (scroll down for the start, and continue on to subsequent pages)
• House of Commons Research Paper on the subject (http://www.parliament.uk/commons/lib/research/rp98/rp98-003.pdf) (PDF format)