Thread by @GeorgePeretzQC

One possible answer to the West Lothian Question now abandoned. (The WLQ is why 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 and 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿 MPs should vote on 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 - only laws (eg Covid restrictions when 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 MPs can’t vote on equivalents in 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 and 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿.)

https://twitter.com/projectevel/status/1415037694372106243

One approach to the WLQ is simply to refuse to ask it.

The current government’s position is set out by Rees-Mogg in the debate yesterday hansard.parliament.uk/commons/2021-0….

First, EVEL isn’t the right answer to the WLQ.

So what is the answer? See (I will spare you Rees-Mogg’s reference to George III, as well as his detour into places around the world named after places in 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 - look them up if you really want to know).

What does that mean? In essence, it makes the point that Westminster is now legislating more for the whole U.K. than it did in the past, given that much EU competence (eg state aid/subsidies) has come to Westminster rather than being further devolved.

Indeed, says Rees-Mogg, it is “natural” that former EU competences should remain in Westminster.

And see also the wide new Westminster competence in s50 of the Internal Market Act to spend money in any part of the U.K. on almost anything.

Where does all this leave us? The removal of EVEL removes one problem (though an easily repealed one) that would have faced a future government with no majority in 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 but a working majority in the U.K. on the back of 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 and 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿 support.

But the WLQ remains unanswered. Rees-Mogg’s approach is essentially to say that, as Westminster plays, post-Brexit and post-IMA, a larger role in 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 and 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿 than it did before, the WLQ becomes less pressing.

But it remains to be seen whether that increase in Westminster’s power will be acceptable in 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 and 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿.

As for English devolution, Rees-Mogg is dismissive of an “all-England” solution, and (as usual with this government) shows no more than a token and unconvincing interest in further devolution to more local levels.

The current government’s complete lack of interest - despite its “levelling-up” rhetoric - in actually giving power to local areas to decide for themselves how to invest in their futures is IMO a major weakness in its approach, which the opposition can and should exploit.