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The British government wants to give English MPs the power to strike down laws that do not relate to Scotland, Wales or Northern Ireland, writes The Independent. Under the proposed constitutional reforms, which will be presented to Parliament in autumn,
English MPs would be able to reject legislation on devolved issues such as education, the NHS, transport and the environment, even if it had been passed by a majority of all MPs in the House of Commons.The move would dramatically rebalance power in Parliament – and could result in a future Labour government being unable to pass significant legislation without the support of other parties [because a significant number of Labour MPs are Welsh and Scottish].
Today, all MPs in the UK parliament can vote on legislation affecting England, but English MPs do not have similar sway on matters voted by the national devolved parliaments and assemblies of Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.
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