TORY CRITICISMS OF SNP MPs NOT VOTING ON ENGLAND ONLY MATTERS RAISED ON FLOOR OF THE HOUSE

I reminded the Leader of the House, Andrea Leadsom MP, about the Tory Party’s commitment to English Votes for English Laws (EVEL) in Business Questions this week.

The Tories argued that this measure was necessary since MPs in England had no say over matters under the jurisdiction of the Scottish Parliament and therefore it was not fair that Scottish MPs should be able to influence matters only affecting English constituencies.

MPs representing Scottish constituencies can vote on English matters. However, whilst the vote is added to their voting record it is then discounted in the result of each vote, rendering the vote meaningless.

This summer, elected Tory politicians in Scotland have viciously and publicly attacked myself and my SNP colleagues for not participating in these votes, cynically exploiting the fact that EVEL votes are recorded as “missed” votes in the parliamentary record.

It is incredible that EVEL, a flagship Tory policy, is being cynically exploited and undermined by elected Tory MPs who know better, simply to mislead the public who may not be aware of EVEL voting procedures.

The Leader of the House reiterated her belief in the fairness of EVEL arrangements but looked genuinely shocked that any elected Tory politician would engage in such vitriol over a flagship Tory policy being put into practice and offered to meet me to discuss further the way this matter is being used to deliberately mislead and misinform voters.

Please click the link below to hear the exchange: