SSP CONDEMNS ‘ENGLISH VOTES FOR ENGLISH LAWS’

The Scottish Socialist Party today condemned David Cameron’s ‘English Votes for English Laws’ Bill and reminded him Westminster is not the English Parliament.

Colin Fox, National co-spokesperson of the Scottish Socialist Party, reminded David Cameron that Westminster is not the English Parliament saying: “English Votes for English Laws is the Tories revenge on the independence movement. It is the prize Tory backwoodsmen in the Shires demanded following their victory in last years referendum.

“Yet they seem to believe the British Parliament is the English Parliament. Mind you they are also prone to refer to Britain as ‘a country’ when it is plainly four. This ludicrous Bill means that Scottish MPs are relegated to second class status and able to vote on all the Bills that are put in front of them.

“The Tories should have listened to the warnings of their fellow unionist MPs like Gordon Brown who is under no illusions about the huge political blunder they have made today. EVEL will backfire on them in due course, warns Brown, as every time it takes effect it will act as a ‘red rag to a bull’ to the Independence movement in Scotland.

“There is any number of options the Tories could have chosen to address the so called ‘West Lothian Question’. They could have established an English Grand Committee in the Commons to deal with English health, education, justice and transport matters. But they chose to avoid that option altogether.

“The Scottish Government receives a grant calculated via the Barnett Formula, and this is tied to public expenditure in the rest of the UK. EVEL will limit the say MPs outside England have on decisions affecting the budgets of their own devolved parliaments.”