Devolution (Scotland Referendum)

Today sees the funeral of Angus Macleod, and I am sure that the Leader of the House and Members o...

I will come to the political and partisan points of the hon. Gentleman’s intervention, but first ...

Will my right hon. Friend give way very briefly?

Well, I was hoping to come on to the other points, but I will give way again at this early stage....

Before my right hon. Friend gets to the political and partisan points, may I ask him to involve t...

My hon. Friend is right to make that point as Chair of the Procedure Committee. I certainly give ...

Will the right hon. Gentleman give way?

I have not even had a chance to respond to the hon. Member for Moray (Angus Robertson) yet, so I ...

Will my right hon. Friend give way?

I will make just one more point.

The Prime Minister has asked me to chair a Cabinet Committ...

The Leader of the House will know that the Political and Constitutional Reform Committee, which I...

Absolutely, I will. The Political and Constitutional Reform Committee and the Procedure Committee...

It is true that on devolved matters, English MPs do not have a vote, but neither do Welsh MPs, Sc...

Let me come to that matter. I propose to work briefly and logically through the nations of the Un...

Does my right hon. Friend agree that many of us in England, including many of my constituents, we...

That is, indeed, one solution that could be adopted. I will come to the alternative solutions in ...

rose—

I will give way in one moment.

This Government delivered the Scotland Act 2012 and introduc...

I am grateful to the right hon. Gentleman for giving way eventually. If the vow swayed 6% of the ...

I assure the hon. Gentleman that the vow is unconditional. I think that I can also speak for the ...

I thank the Leader of the House for making it clear that the vow is unconditional and that the pr...

My hon. Friend is absolutely correct. The referendum was described by people on all sides as the ...

As someone with a strong Scottish highland heritage, I want a fair settlement for everyone in the...

The Scottish process will be presided over by Lord Smith of Kelvin, not by me. The Cabinet Commit...

May I say gently to my right hon. Friend that the right hon. Member for Kirkcaldy and Cowdenbeath...

All the party leaders supported that, but it is the great joy of our democracy and the House that...

Will my right hon. Friend give way?

I will make a bit of progress. Otherwise we will stop on that point.

As in Scotland, the Go...

rose—

As the right hon. Gentleman is from Wales, I will give way to him.

One third of my constituents are currently served by hospitals in England. The railway service go...

As I have said, I will come to the position of England, although the right hon. Gentleman might w...

rose—

I will give way once more to a Government Member.

When one looks at Welsh devolution, is not one problem that the legislation has been so badly dra...

There is a good case for that. The structure of the devolution settlement in Wales is an importan...

rose—

I will take one more intervention on Wales.

I want to pick up on the right hon. Gentleman’s point about the health service in north Wales. As...

As I was saying a moment ago, it is of course true that there are a mass of connections in public...

May I point out to my right hon. Friend that we are having increasing difficulty accessing servic...

Yes, that is important for all of us in the UK.

As is well understood in the House, the dev...

Will the Leader of the House give way?

No, I think I will make progress.

Hon. Members completely respect the legitimate need for g...

rose—

That has flushed out quite a few hon. Members, but let me begin by giving way to my hon. Friend t...

My right hon. Friend is right that there was no appetite in Yorkshire for that proposal, but ther...

I agree with my hon. Friend. Hon. Members on both sides of the House need to listen to that point...

rose—

I will give way on that subject to an Opposition Member.

The Leader of the House is right to remind us that regional assemblies were rejected wherever the...

I acknowledge the hon. Gentleman’s point. Much of what we must do is make what we have already wo...

Will my right hon. Friend give way?

I will first answer the point made by the hon. Member for Blackley and Broughton (Graham Stringer...

rose—

I will give way a couple more times, first to the hon. Member for Bishop Auckland (Helen Goodman)...

We share a constituency boundary and the Leader of the House knows, as I do, that our constituent...

These issues are not mutually exclusive. It is entirely possible to believe that there should be ...

The Leader of the House is absolutely right that we should have English votes for English Members...

Yes, absolutely. Some of the city deals already signed include, for instance, parts of Lancashire...

rose—

Let me introduce the next part of my speech, because a lot of Members wish to speak.

It doe...

rose—

I need to emphasise this point. It is no longer fair or just for Scotland to be able to decide it...

Will the right hon. Gentleman give way?

I will give way again in a moment; I am trying to give way a lot.

We must establish the pri...

Before the right hon. Gentleman moved on to that structural point, he mentioned the question of l...

I believe that where a matter only affects England, then key decisions should be made, one way or...

rose—

I will give way a couple more times.

I thank the Leader of the House for giving way. He said that devolution within the United Kingdom...

I think across the House we want to be practical and pragmatic about the devolution of powers. [I...

rose—

I will give way to the right hon. Member for Southampton, Itchen (Mr Denham) and then to my hon. ...

I am grateful to the Leader of the House. A few moments ago he said that the way in which English...

First, I am not claiming to have a monopoly on wisdom. The people of England are already having t...

Labour has 31 MPs in Yorkshire. Has he had any representations thus far from them on their views ...

I have not had any representations from any of the Labour MPs in Yorkshire; that is true. I was h...

Does my right hon. Friend agree that if we are looking for a consensual approach with Opposition ...

The McKay commission proposals are a very good starting point. They are very well thought out, af...

On a point of order, Mr Speaker.

I hope it is a point of order, rather than of frustration.

Is it not the case that today’s debate is on devolution following the Scottish referendum, rather...

Far be it from me to chide a figure of such exalted status in the House as the hon. Gentleman, bu...

This debate is about the whole of the United Kingdom after the referendum in Scotland. Within 10 ...

On a point of order, Mr Speaker.

I hope it is a point of order.

The annunciator reads, “Devolution (Scotland Referendum)”, but at the moment we are debating Engl...

I can observe the annunciator just as well as the hon. Gentleman. I simply advise him that the ti...

Thank you, Mr Speaker. It might be good if the Scottish National party, taking heed of the refere...

The Leader of the House might wish to know that the separatist party has consistently argued that...

That was one of the arguments put powerfully in the referendum, and clearly the voters took heed....

I wish to explore with my right hon. Friend the idea of going in tandem and at the same pace. As ...

Without getting into the finer points of cycling, I can say that it is the Prime Minister’s view,...

There isn’t.

The hon. Lady does not represent the only other party in the House of Commons. There might be cro...

Will the right hon. Gentleman give way?

I do not think I will give way again, because more than 40 hon. Members wish to speak.

Some...

We are faced with an anti-politics mood in the country that should alarm each and every one of us...

rose—

I will give way in a moment. Let me get past my third line.

Today’s debate is an opportunit...

Does the right hon. Gentleman not appreciate, however, that the matter of English votes for Engli...

I will do my best, as did the Leader of the House, to make a rational speech and address that ver...

rose—

—and that is a good point at which to give way to the hon. Gentleman.

Has the right hon. Gentleman spoken to many of his own constituents? Are they telling him that th...

All that I will say to the hon. Gentleman is that that did not work very well in Clacton.

T...

The right hon. Gentleman is, of course, right to acknowledge that some important changes were mad...

I am trying my best—as did the Leader of the House—to follow the rational plan and structure of t...

Will the right hon. Gentleman give way?

Let me make some progress first. I will give way to the right hon. and learned Gentleman shortly,...

Will the right hon. Gentleman give way?

Of course I will give way to the former Attorney-General.

I participated in the debates on devolution in the late 1990s, and the West Lothian question was ...

I have a huge amount of respect for the former Attorney-General, but I am afraid that it is incon...

Will the hon. Gentleman give way?

I will give way to the Select Committee Chair in a moment. I want to make some progress first.