Devolution must go beyond Westminster

On Tuesday in parliament, William Hague announced four options to address the "English votes for English laws" issue. They are:

• Barring Scottish and Northern Irish MPs from any role in English and Welsh bills and limiting England-only bills to English MPs
• Allowing only English MPs, or English and Welsh MPs, to consider relevant bills during their committee and report stages, where amendments are tabled and agreed, before allowing all MPs to vote on the final bill
• Allowing only English MPs, or English and Welsh MPs, to consider relevant bills at committee stage and giving them a effective veto in a separate vote before their third reading
• A separate Lib Dem plan to establish a grand committee of English MPs, with the right to veto legislation applying only England, with its members based on the share of the vote.

David Laws was sitting beside William Hague during the announcement and added a note of disagreement afterwards:

• Devolution and localism must go beyond Westminster. Up and down the country, citizens want change that reflects their local needs and circumstances.
• We cannot have a debate about devolving greater powers to nations without also considering how we give local areas more power.
• If we agree it is right to give the 5 million people in Scotland and 3 million people in Wales a greater say over their local services, then we cannot ignore the 5 million people in Yorkshire who have the same rights to local democracy and empowerment
• It is disappointing the Conservatives are not supporting our proposal for 'Devolution on Demand' which would give more powers to the English cities, counties and regions - especially places like Cornwall and Yorkshire.

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