Tag: McKay Report
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Mark Elliott and Stephen Tierney: House of Lords Constitution Committee Reports on ‘English Votes for English Laws’
The House of Lords Constitution Committee (‘the Committee’) today issues its report on ‘English Votes for English Laws’ (‘EVEL’). The report examines the new arrangements for the passage of legislation introduced by the Government in July 2015 and agreed by the House of Commons twelve months ago. The Committee was asked to review the constitutional…
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Barbara Guastaferro: Disowning Edmund Burke? The Constitutional Implications of EVEL on Political Representation
“Parliament is not a congress of ambassadors from different and hostile interests; which interests each must maintain, as an agent and advocate, against other agents and advocates” but rather “a deliberative assembly of one nation, with one interest, that of the whole” (E. Burke, Speech to the Electors of Bristol, 3 November 1774). With these…
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Barry Winetrobe: The West Lothian Dead End: Asking the Wrong Question after the Scottish Referendum
Barry Winetrobe argues that the sudden focus on the ‘West Lothian/English Question’ is misconceived, and that it is just a surrogate for the more salient issue of sub-national financial arrangements. “Hello darkness, my old friend, I’ve come to talk with you again.” With apologies to Simon & Garfunkel, we note the post-referendum retrieval, from the…
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Craig Prescott: The Union, Constitutional Change and Constitutional Conventions (and English Regionalism?)
Last week, the House of Commons Political and Constitutional Reform Committee published their report, Do We Need A Constitutional Convention For the UK? (HC 2012-13 371). It is an interesting document, mainly because its very existence shows that the idea of a constitutional convention is becoming more mainstream within Westminster. But the report raises many…
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Mark Elliott: Devolution, the West Lothian Question, and the nature of constitutional reform in the United Kingdom
Earlier this week, the McKay Commission published its Report on the Consequences of Devolution for the House of Commons. The Commission’s terms of reference required it to determine “how the House of Commons might deal with legislation which affects only part of the United Kingdom, following the devolution of certain legislative powers to the Scottish…