EVEL in waiting
by Robbie Dinwoodie, Political Editor S
O FAR, so symbolic, but in the near future the row at Westminster over so-called English votes for English laws will become much more tangible, with the SNP looking to pick its moment to launch procedural guerrilla warfare in the House.
The Speaker is an all-powerful convener of the House of Commons, his rulings subject to no procedural challenge, nor even the requirement for explanation.
This means that the first time John Bercow designates a Bill under the EVEL procedure which Scotish MPs believe does have implications for potential impact North of the Border there is going to be a constitutional collision.
The SNP’s Shadow Leader of the House, Pete Wishart, is not giving away any details of the kind of disruptive tactics being considered, but speaking to iScot he gave warning: “We will have to look at what kinds of action are available to us to allow us to represent the interests of our constituents.”
We carried a full guide to how EVEL works in a previous issue of iScot, but basically it introduces an extra Grand Commitee stage at which only English, or English and Welsh MPs according to designation, will be able to vote.
The constitutional lawyer and blogger Andrew Tickell has called the restriction “gutless, feeble and milquetoast” and described the rhetoric deployed against
it “a guffstorm”. He said in his Lallands Peat Worrier blog: “Listening to shriller outriders, you could be forgiven for thinking Scotish MPs had been all but expelled from the chamber.”
But symbolism is important in politics, which is why David Cameron announced the intention to come forward with EVEL within hours of the declaration of the referendum result in 2014.
The Grand Commitee which has been created for this process is unlike any other Westminster commitee, for not all MPs are eligible to be voting members. Those not representing English, or in other cases English and Welsh, constituencies will be ineligible and this goes to the heart of the perception of “second class MPs”.
“We will have to look at what kinds of action are available to us to allow us to represent the interests of our constituents.”
: Pete Wishart SNP’s Shadow Leader of the House,
There was much talk on January 12 of the historic nature of what happened with the first siting of the new Grand Commitee of England and Wales. Sadly, no-one thought to paraphrase Edmund Burke and declare: “All that is necessary for the triumph of EVEL is that good men do nothing.”
Several Nationalists tweeted images of an “England and Wales” sign hanging on a Commons’ door, and the words “Legislative Grand Commitee (England and Wales)” printed on the Housing and Planning Bill itself.
February 2016 5
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68 |
Page 69 |
Page 70 |
Page 71 |
Page 72 |
Page 73 |
Page 74 |
Page 75 |
Page 76 |
Page 77 |
Page 78 |
Page 79 |
Page 80 |
Page 81 |
Page 82 |
Page 83 |
Page 84 |
Page 85 |
Page 86 |
Page 87 |
Page 88 |
Page 89 |
Page 90 |
Page 91 |
Page 92 |
Page 93 |
Page 94 |
Page 95 |
Page 96 |
Page 97 |
Page 98 |
Page 99 |
Page 100
