CONTROVERSIAL plans to introduce "English votes for English laws" would have affected fewer than a handful of bills in the last decade, according to research by a Labour MP.
The figures highlight the potential difficulty in identifying legislation which is wholly or exclusively English.
Labour has warned that the proposed reforms could leave Scottish politicians as "second class MPs". But the Coalition Government insists change is necessary to ease what it says is growing anger over the so-called West Lothian Question, where Scottish MPs can vote on laws that do not affect their constituents.
Significantly, however, the new analysis suggests an English-only vote would not have affected the most recent controversial case, when Scottish MPs helped to push through a rise in university tuition fees in England - because that Bill contained provisions for Wales.
Tom Greatrex, Labour MP for Rutherglen & Hamilton West, who obtained and analysed the figures from the House of Commons Library, warned that Westminster would become paralysed if every Bill had to be stripped of anything that affected other parts of the UK. This analysis blows apart the idea, promoted by some Tory MPs and commentators, that there is a significant amount of legislation passed by Scottish and Welsh MPs on English matters," he added.
"The West Lothian question may be easy to ask and difficult to answer, but the reality is that it is only relevant in less than 1% of the legislation passed by Westminster (over the last decade).
"Typically, the coalition parties have lurched to a seductively simple answer to a perceived problem that turns out to be simplistic in the extreme."
Mr Greatrex accused the Conservatives of rushing to "satisfy a vocal minority" of their backbench MPs, creating a "careless conclusion that is largely irrelevant and meaningless." He added: "With different levels of devolution in Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland and London there is as much a West Belfast, West Cardiff and West Ealing question as a West Lothian one."
Coalition Government sources confirmed this summer they plan to bring in a system of "English votes" for English legislation.
Ministers believe that there is growing resentment over the issue, especially in the south east of England.
But they also argue that there is a growing body of Scottish public opinion that will back the move.
Such is the strength of feeling within the Coalition that ministers plan to publish proposals before next year's independence referendum, despite the potential for backlash north of the border.
The reforms would not be introduced until after the next general election, due in 2015.
Under the plans, a so-called "fourth reading" would be introduced to potentially allow English MPs to express their dissatisfaction.
Critics have questioned what value the move would add, especially as it would not prevent any Bill becoming law.
The West Lothian Question was coined by the former Labour MP for the area Tam Dalyell before devolution. Famously he asked how it could be right that he could vote on education policies that would affect Blackburn, Lanca-shire but not Blackburn, West Lothian.
The McKay Commission - set up to look into the issue by the Coalition and which reported back earlier this year - defined the West Lothian Question as non-English MPs voting on English laws.
The Commission found three instances where this had affected the result, as well as the 2004 Higher Education Bill.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article