Back from London
I am just back from a trip to London, discussing the ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳'s coverage of the UK in these devolved times. The visit coincided with the publication of on the West Lothian question. It finessed the earlier Tory policy on "English votes on English laws", but may still provoke concerns amongst unionists worried about becoming "2nd class" MPs.
If the Conservatives do adopt the Clarke report as official policy it will be interesting to see how they deal with grey areas, like social security benefits. Supposedly devolved, in practice the Assembly follows the "parity principle" with such benefits.
In recent debates, when Sinn Fein has been critical of Margaret Ritchie over the details of benefits, she has tended to tell them they should take their Westminster seats in order to scrutinise the underlying policy. So what would happen to "parity" if local MPs were excluded from scrutinising this kind of legislation?
As I sat on a train on the District Line, I can't say I heard anyone discussing the West Lothian question. However plenty of my fellow travellers were talking tennis on their way to Wimbledon. In its own way the Andy Murray saga said as much about the state of the union as the Clarke report, with the former Tory Minister David Mellor telling the truculent Scot to wrap himself in the Union Flag. The strangely familiar debate about national identity and sporting allegiance filled up the airwaves in England, but in the end Raphael Nadal settled the matter in straight sets.
I am away on a couple of days leave, but will be back at the weekend with Inside Politics, and a fresh posting here. .
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