James McEnaney on whether the SNP should vote on English matters

There was a time, as you can still read on the SNP website, here, when their MPs did not vote on England only matters. As they said in 2006,
 
"Scottish National Party MP's vote for Scotland's interests and priorities at Westminster and the SNP wants all powers currently exercised by the House of Commons to be returned to an independent Scotland. "In the meantime, SNP Parliamentarians vote on matters which have a direct or significant indirect impact on Scotland, including UK constitutional affairs. We refrain from voting on exclusively English, Welsh and Northern Irish matters."

And as recently as February 2015, as lecturer James McEnaney points out here, Nicola Sturgeon said that this policy would continue, writing in the Guardian that where

"any issue is genuinely 'English-only', with no impact on Scotland, the case for EVEL can be made."

She also provided one specific example of an issue which would legitimately be seen as a matter for English and Welsh MPs - that’s right, fox hunting.


McEnaney goes on to say that in his opinion

"The simple fact is that it is wrong for Scottish MPs to vote on issues which are entirely devolved and where there is also no question of even any indirect impact on Scotland.

How exactly could we continue to make the democratic argument for Scottish independence whilst simultaneously sticking two fingers up to the very principle upon which it is founded?

We railed against the obscenity of England imposing governments we didn’t vote for, yet now we are to support the supposed right of Scottish MPs to impose policy on the rest of the UK?

What it comes down to is this: if you believe that Scottish MPs should influence the legality of fox hunting in England and Wales, then English and Welsh MPs should have an equal say on fox hunting in Scotland.

Any other position is merely rank hypocrisy, no matter how you package it."


That point would be reasonable enough as and when a proposal comes forward to hold a free vote on repeal of the Hunting Act in England and Wales, which was in the Conservative manifesto.

But the vote which the government had intended to hold next week was on a more modest change, bringing the Hunting law in England and Wales into line with the law in Scotland.

If, as currently appears likely, the SNP vote against that it will be even more hypocritical and I will be unable to avoid the conclusion that the SNP are not interested in a fair allocation of power within the UK but are deliberately trying to sow division and annoy at least some English people in the hope that the anger they create will damage the UK.

The tragedy is that their attempt to make people angry will probably succeed. If the SNP think they will thereby help Scotland they are sadly mistaken.

If they are trying to encourage the Conservatives to beef up their EVEL proposals they are going exactly the right way about it.

If David Cameron decides to pull the hunting vote for now, concentrate on passing a stronger English Votes for English Laws proposal while devolving the issue to Wales, and then brings forward repeal of the Hunting Act (and other things) in England without the SNP having any right to take part, the SNP will have nobody to blame but themselves.

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