Home Rule: the party options

'For a government to propose that some British people shall have two Parliaments to shout for them, while others are left with only one, is the last word in political debauchery.' Richard Wainwright, Liberal MP for Colne Valley, 1977.

The West Lothian Question

Tam Dalyell's famous 'West Lothian Question' is irrelevant to those who support independence or the status quo, but it poses a very prickly problem for devolutionists.

The question is a matter for the Westminster Parliament to decide.

1. The number of Scottish MPs at Westminster could be reduced.
   1. The Liberal Democrats suggest a reduction from 72 to 59
   2. The Scottish National Party suggest a reduction from 72 to zero.
   3. For Labour and the Conservatives, this remains a prickly problem. English Conservatives assume that any reduction in the number of Scottish seats would be to their party's benefit, but studies have shown that potential Tory seats might also be among those to be axed.
   
   
2. Westminster could change its procedures to exclude Scottish MPs from certain English business. This might mean that a party with a majority for UK matters would no longer have a majority for strictly English matters.
   1. Labour are against this as any future Commons majority would probably depend heavily on their Scottish MPs.
   2. For the Liberals, this would merely be a fact of life.
   3. It is already SNP policy not to vote on strictly English matters.
   
   
3. Westminster might decide to take no action at all.

The Real West Lothian Question?

Tam (Didn't he) Doowell

Now, this, ladies and gentlemen, is the West Lothian Question.

Punter

Great Scot, Doowell - how does it work?

Tam (Didn't he) Doowell

It's a machine of torture that twists its victims' franchise so horribly that a Labour majority in Scotland is suffocated under a Tory government.