West Lothian question

Question asking how it could be right that a Scottish member of Parliament (MP) at Westminster after devolution could vote upon matters such as education affecting English seats, but that same MP could not vote on such matters affecting his or her own constituency because they would have been devolved to a Scottish Parliament. The question was first highlighted by Labour MP Tam Dalyell, whose constituency used to be called West Lothian. The question became a shorthand for the tensions which would allegedly arise upon the establishment of devolution for only one part of the United Kingdom. According to Dalyell and others, it would create resentment in England and produce overall constitutional instability.

By 1998, the question was more commonly used to challenge the fact that Scottish members at Westminster would continue to vote upon English matters while MPs from England had lost the power to influence Scottish affairs which had been devolved to Edinburgh. In an attempt to remove the sting from the West Lothian question, the Labour government signalled a reduction in the number of Scottish MPs at Westminster. This would be done by liberating the Boundary Commission, the body that determines the number of parliamentary representatives in the UK, from the stipulation that there must be a minimum of 71 MPs from Scotland. Rough parity with England in terms of constituents per MP would cut the number of Scottish MPs from 72 to around 58. The core argument underpinning the strategy of reducing the number of Scottish MPs at Westminster was that as long as England accepted the continuation of the Union settlement then Westminster should accept Scottish MPs, with the new proviso that there would not be exceptional numbers beyond Scotland's population entitlement.

Conservative Party leader William Hague reaffirmed his party's pledge to stop Scottish MPs voting on English matters in 1999, saying the party would do all it could to protect the Union in the wake of devolution. He pledged that his party would reduce the size of the House of Commons and promised that, under Conservative rule, Scottish MPs would be excluded from voting on matters purely related to England.

However, the West Lothian question was not a core issue for the Scots. Scotland was more concerned with the working of its new Parliament than with the claimed consequences for the governance of England at Westminster.