In the House of Commons last week, I raised once again the issue of English votes for English laws.
Before the General Election, I was delighted to become a Patron of the Fair Votes for All campaign, and I am pleased that a Conservative majority government is listening to the concerns of people in Crawley and further afield.
The Government plan to change the way legislation in the House of Commons is considered. This will ensure English and Welsh MPs have a fairer say over laws that only affect their constituencies, and are on matters which have been devolved.
Essentially, the Parliamentary procedures for legislation that affects England only will be changed.
When Members of Parliament discuss England-only legislation in detail, known as the Committee Stage, it will only be considered by MPs from England.
This will ensure no Bill or part of a Bill relating only to England would be able to pass to its third reading and become law, without being approved in a Grand Committee made up of English MPs.
In the last week, it was the decision of the Scottish National Party to vote on matters affecting hunting in England and Wales, that highlighted this issue even further. While I support the Hunting Act, I also know we cannot have a situation where Scottish MPs could potentially decide issues affecting English schools and hospitals – decisions on both these matters are made by the Scottish Parliament in Edinburgh.
Of course, this is a work in progress, and the Government are proposing that the House of Commons Procedure Committee will be able to review the new system, after the first few bills have been passed under the new English votes system.
In recent years, an increasing number of people have contacted me about the unfairness of the existing situation – I am pleased that the Government is listening and taking on board these concerns, to ensure fairness for England, alongside further devolution for Scotland.
The SNP had, previously, chosen to abstain on matters affecting England (or in some cases, England and Wales).
It is worth remembering, at this point, that the sole existence of the Scottish National Party is to break up our United Kingdom. As the Leader of the House of Commons said this week, it is up to Unionist parties to decide whether they will help them in this approach.