Archive for November 7th, 2007
7th November 2007
Whose Parliament Is It Anyway?
Media discussion of the West Lothian question usually excludes Wales but it increasingly applies to us too - at least some of the time. Of the 23 bills announced in the Queen’s Speech yesterday 4 apply to England and Wales, 13 are UK-wide and six are England-only. So for a quarter of this session, Westminster will be an English Parliament to all intents and purposes - but for the presence of a phalanx of Celtic MPs.
Should we as Plaid MPs vote on these England-only bills? The SNP do not vote on England-only legislation as a matter of principle. This was easier in their case because a separate legal system meant that even before devolution most domestic legislation had to have a separate Scottish bill. The much more transparent constitutional settlement for Scotland sets out a clear divide between devolved and reserved matters. In Wales it is not always so clear: health is devolved, but medical training is not, for example. Sometimes a bill can have indirect consequences for Wales some way down the line, by setting a precedent etc. But as Wales begins to develop its own policy agenda alongside its legislative competence that argument is beginning to weaken.
Rifkind’s idea of an English Grand Committee is fundamentally flawed because it simply perpetuates the half-baked nature of the current settlement. As Leanne Wood pointed out on Question Time last week, it would sometimes have to meet as an English and Welsh Grand Committee and at other times it wouldn’t. Would the Welsh MPs only be allowed on the Welsh clauses in the bill? The only durable long-term solution is ‘home rule all round’: a Parliament for Wales and a Parliament for Scotland and a new relationship of equality between the nations of these islands.
But, while we are waiting, should we abstain on English legislation - or use our votes to defeat ideas like ‘foundation hospitals’ that we oppose? In a hung parliament this could become a crucial question.