shiva

short answer is yes

alfrombarking

Now they cant even agree on the West Lothian Question.

Inselaffen

I don't think Labour can put forward any valid arguments. They just know they are screwed if they lose the votes of their Scottish MP's

shiva

"SNP becomes UK's third biggest party in wake of indyref defeat"


"According to the party's chief executive Peter Murrell, more than 22,000 supporters joined its ranks over the last four days, taking the number carrying a party card from under 26,000 to more than 50,000 - a leap of 92 per cent."

alfrombarking

That's true and I don't think stopping Scottish MPs from voting on devolved matters will work as anything other than a short term fudge. It'll lead to accusations of different classes of MPs, and will cause big problems if there is any disagreement on if an issue should be full-UK or non-Scot.

Perhaps they should split England into regions, but better ones than before - with some more attention paid to regional identity, but still with the aim of approximately equal populations. Give each one a vote on if it wants devolved powers (except London, which already has them). If they say yes, they get an assembly/parliament. If no then power remains at Westminster. There'd be some provision for being able to have future votes if there is sufficient demand for change.

Give each regional assembly/parliament the same powers, to remove any suggestion of favouritism.

Then reform the Lords. Make it 100% elected, with each region getting an equal share of the seats, and holding its own PR election to divide up those seats.

Inselaffen

You already have different classes of MP's. Scottish MP's get to vote on matters that do not concern their constituents. English MP's do not.

alfrombarking

I wonder what will be Cameron's next move

mikewot

If I was him I would rook to knight 4.

Bahtatboy

I'd vote for more pink bits.

alfrombarking

I think, if some English regions receive powers and others don't, we will end up in a serious mess. I would give all English regions the same powers, and let them decide how they should operate.

Bahtatboy

How are you defining "region"?

shiva

An It's only labour and conservative MPs that vote on both. The SNP have for some time abstained from any specific english issues

shiva

It's an appropriate place to put it even if it's time for this thread to retire

But the SNP have hit 60,000 members more than doubling membership since Friday and I cannot begin to describe how much this amuses me and the thought of how much it must piss off Scottish labour amuses me even more

Eeyore

I don't imagine Scottish Labour gives much of a toss. 30,000 new members is a drop in the ocean, and those 30,000 probably weren't going to vote for Labour anyway. And if they care enough about Scottish independence to join the SNP, why didn't they bother joining *before* the vote? Not that it would have made a scrap of difference, of course, any more than it makes any difference now.

Rather telling to look at the electoral map showing the strength of the vote by council area. Says it all, really. The SNP's still got a lot of convincing to do outside of the deprived areas of Glasgow.

shiva

It would be funny if it wasn't sad that you posted that map, the same ones that's been touted round the media all week.

It fails to show things like a .2% difference in vote in one council is what won a no vote there. Not quite the whole picture you might say