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The "west lothian" question[0] is going to drive all true scotsmen[1] crazy. It comes up on reddit scottish forums more and more. Ultimately I think it, and the

by ggm 2y ago

The "west lothian" question[0] is going to drive all true scotsmen[1] crazy. It comes up on reddit scottish forums more and more. Ultimately I think it, and the Barnett Formula[2] are going to wind up this issues version of Godwin's law[3] (which isn't a law) -All conversations about Scottish Nationalism and Legitimacy of votes in Westminster become stupidly fractious. [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/West_Lothian_question https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/West_Lothian_question [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/No_true_Scotsman https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/No_true_Scotsman [2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barnett_formula https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barnett_formula [3] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Godwin%27s_law https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Godwin%27s_law

amiga386 2y ago
Something of a side note, but the West Lothian question is mostly academic. By convention, Scottish MPs voluntarily abstain from votes on English-only laws and more importantly they're usually too small a bloc to affect the outcome of a vote. The only times Scottish MPs have gone against their own convention, and their votes changed the outcome, was a 2003 vote on foundation hospitals and a 2004 vote on tuition fees. In 2015, the government introduced English Votes for English Laws (EVEL), offically banning Scottish MP from voting on English-only matters, and repealed it 6 years later. The reason was, effectively, the 2015 government was teetering on the edge (only a coalition stopped it being a hung parliament) and needed every vote it can get, but by 2019 had a "thumping majority" (as is normal in FPTP elections) and could easily outvote Opposition + Scottish MPs on anything. Much more common is that the UK Government does something in Scotland first -- such as introduce the Poll Tax a year before England -- or does something which negatively affects a UK region like Scotland, and MPs from that region _can_ vote on it, but they don't have the numbers to stop it being enacted, so effectively Westminster pushes its will on the region. Devolution has shifted the bulk of lawmaking to Holyrood, but there are still a number of reserved matters that Westminster retains authority over

by ggm 2y ago

amiga386 2y ago

Something of a side note, but the West Lothian question is mostly academic. By convention, Scottish MPs voluntarily abstain from votes on English-only laws and more importantly they're usually too small a bloc to affect the outcome of a vote. The only times Scottish MPs have gone against their own convention, and their votes changed the outcome, was a 2003 vote on foundation hospitals and a 2004 vote on tuition fees. In 2015, the government introduced English Votes for English Laws (EVEL), offically banning Scottish MP from voting on English-only matters, and repealed it 6 years later. The reason was, effectively, the 2015 government was teetering on the edge (only a coalition stopped it being a hung parliament) and needed every vote it can get, but by 2019 had a "thumping majority" (as is normal in FPTP elections) and could easily outvote Opposition + Scottish MPs on anything. Much more common is that the UK Government does something in Scotland first -- such as introduce the Poll Tax a year before England -- or does something which negatively affects a UK region like Scotland, and MPs from that region _can_ vote on it, but they don't have the numbers to stop it being enacted, so effectively Westminster pushes its will on the region. Devolution has shifted the bulk of lawmaking to Holyrood, but there are still a number of reserved matters that Westminster retains authority over