Westminster's new inquiry into the Barnett Formula gets under way tomorrow with the first meeting of the Lords committee on the subject.
The meeting will be in private and is expected to discuss the general remit of the peers' inquiry. The formula, which determines the level of additional public expenditure in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, has over the years become a major bone of contention, fuelling claims that England subsidises the rest of the UK.
The committee will be chaired by Labour's Lord Richard, the party's former Leader in the Lords, and will include Lords Forsyth of Drumlean and Lang of Monkton, the former Conservative Scottish Secretaries; Lord Lawson of Blaby, the former Tory Chancellor; Lord Sewel, Labour's ex-Scottish Office Minister; the Liberal Democrats' Earl of Mar and Kellie; and Lord Trimble, the former leader of the Ulster Unionists.
The committee's remit is to consider the "purpose, methodology, and application of the Barnett Formula as a means of determining funding for the devolved administrations of the UK, to assess the effectiveness of the calculation mechanism to meet its purpose, and to consider alternative mechanisms".
Its remit excludes consideration of the overall system of funding the devolved administrations, in particular the question of whether greater tax-raising powers should be accorded to the devolved administrations, other political aspects of the devolution settlements, and the distribution of funds within the different UK regions. Its report is due next summer.
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