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This law only affects England but it is decided by the Whole UK because of the weirdness of the UKs messy political system so I think either could technically b

This law only affects England but it is decided by the Whole UK because of the weirdness of the UKs messy political system so I think either could technically be correct?

arethuza 3y ago
It looks pretty clear that it only applies in England - though you are correct that all MPs (including those from outside of England) could vote on it. Meanwhile, the equivalent legislation in Scotland (which has been in place for a while) couldn't be voted on by English MPs because it was decided by the Scottish parliament in Edinburgh. Which of course, is pretty weird - but its the UK :-)
- tialaramex 3y ago
  Although MPs from England can't vote on the Scottish legislation per se, MPs from England make up most of the elected members of the present government, and that government can and has used its power (misleadingly named "Royal Assent") to block legislation it doesn't like. Basically they "advise" the Queen or King not to grant "assent" which is a formal part of the legislative process, so now the law is dead. Now, it would likely prompt a straight up constitutional crisis and calls to declare independence unilaterally if they did this to some Scottish law about what is clearly a Scottish competence widely understood to be a matter for Scots, like rent reform, but they can do it anyway, they just haven't.
  - arethuza 3y ago
    "but they can do it anyway, they just haven't" Isn't it fair to say that there are no restrictions on what the UK parliament could decide to do - they could do anything they just mostly haven't yet?
    - tialaramex 3y ago
      Yes, it's the nature of sovereignty that they don't acknowledge any restriction, including from themselves (Parliament can pass acts which say Parliament shan't do this or that, but such acts don't actually stop them doing what they said they shall not do) I just wanted to highlight that the observed asymmetry isn't as significant as it appears, but the consequence of trying this out, in both cases, might be a constitutional crisis. If you care to learn about this specific topic, look for the "West Lothian Question". https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/West_Lothian_question https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/West_Lothian_question

This law only affects England but it is decided by the Whole UK because of the weirdness of the UKs messy political system so I think either could technically be correct?

arethuza 3y ago

It looks pretty clear that it only applies in England - though you are correct that all MPs (including those from outside of England) could vote on it. Meanwhile, the equivalent legislation in Scotland (which has been in place for a while) couldn't be voted on by English MPs because it was decided by the Scottish parliament in Edinburgh. Which of course, is pretty weird - but its the UK :-)

tialaramex 3y ago
Although MPs from England can't vote on the Scottish legislation per se, MPs from England make up most of the elected members of the present government, and that government can and has used its power (misleadingly named "Royal Assent") to block legislation it doesn't like. Basically they "advise" the Queen or King not to grant "assent" which is a formal part of the legislative process, so now the law is dead. Now, it would likely prompt a straight up constitutional crisis and calls to declare independence unilaterally if they did this to some Scottish law about what is clearly a Scottish competence widely understood to be a matter for Scots, like rent reform, but they can do it anyway, they just haven't.
- arethuza 3y ago
  "but they can do it anyway, they just haven't" Isn't it fair to say that there are no restrictions on what the UK parliament could decide to do - they could do anything they just mostly haven't yet?
  - tialaramex 3y ago
    Yes, it's the nature of sovereignty that they don't acknowledge any restriction, including from themselves (Parliament can pass acts which say Parliament shan't do this or that, but such acts don't actually stop them doing what they said they shall not do) I just wanted to highlight that the observed asymmetry isn't as significant as it appears, but the consequence of trying this out, in both cases, might be a constitutional crisis. If you care to learn about this specific topic, look for the "West Lothian Question". https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/West_Lothian_question https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/West_Lothian_question