Labour has warned that the government’s controversial plans to give English MPs the right of veto over English laws are an “incomprehensible mess” that amount to a charter to break up the union.
Ahead of a parliamentary debate, Chris Bryant, the shadow leader of the House of Commons, said the proposals would create “confusion and division in parliament while doing nothing to give any more power to English voters over the things that matter to them”.
The party also warned that giving English MPs the right of veto over legislation could create the framework for US-style government shutdowns and legislative impasses. It will table an amendment suggesting English MPs are given the chance to debate and suggest revisions, rather than block legislation entirely.
“Labour will try to fix these proposals to ensure England has a strong voice in parliament but not a veto and to protect the union,” Bryant said.
The new rules, known as English votes for English laws (Evel), have also infuriated the SNP and drawn criticism from the cross-party procedure watchdog.
Chris Grayling, the leader of the Commons, said the plans would strengthen the union as people in England would feel there was a greater balance following the devolution settlements with Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.
But the SNP said the plans were a “dog’s breakfast” that would cause divisions between English and Scottish MPs. “They will make Scottish MPs second class in the unitary UK parliament, they will politicise the office of Speaker in forcing him to take the decision to exclude Scottish MPs from bills and they create an unnecessary new level of parliamentary procedure in a very tight parliamentary timetable,” Pete Wishart, the SNP’s shadow leader of the Commons, told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme.
The Commons procedure committee, chaired by Conservative MP Charles Walker, has also branded the proposals “over-engineered and potentially burdensome”. At the heart of objections is the plan to let John Bercow, the Commons Speaker, decide what constitutes an English law.
The SNP has raised concerns that many pieces of legislation that appear only to relate to England will have a huge knock-on effect in Scotland, such as any plans to build a third runway at Heathrow.
Pressed on whether this could be considered English-only legislation, Grayling suggested it could if it was just a planning decision.
The measures are an attempt to answer the West Lothian question, which is what to do about the fact that English MPs do not vote on devolved matters affecting the Scottish, such as health and education, but Scottish MPs have a say on those areas in England.
Under the plans, English MPs would be able to block legislation deemed just to affect England, but the bill would ultimately be subject to a full vote of the House of Commons.
There is the potential for it to be highly controversial if there were to be an electoral outcome where one party had a majority in the UK overall but not in England. This is most likely in the event of a Labour-SNP alliance with the Tories still holding a majority of English MPs.
The government had to revise its proposals after objections from Tory backbenchers earlier this year. If passed, the plans will be reviewed after a year to make sure they are working properly.
