Last Thursday Chris Grayling whose full title is President of the Council and Leader of the House of Commons addressed a rather rowdy House. The reason things were a bit heated was that the Scottish contingent were upset by the prospect of being prevented from taking part in one stage of legislation that affects England, or in some cases England and Wales only – a modest change that will be supported overwhelmingly by my constituents and I’m sure voters in every English constituency.
What struck me as odd is not that the Scottish Nationalists were so worked up about it but that the Labour Party thought this a constitutional outrage. Could they really be so out of touch with public opinion, particularly just a few weeks after a prolonged election campaign when they were surely getting exactly the message from voters as I was?
People wanted a solution to the much-vaunted ‘West Lothian Question’ which, in a nutshell, asks why MPs representing Scottish constituencies should have a say in legislation that affects only England and Scotland but not on matters such as Health, Education and much else which has been devolved to the Scottish Parliament.
The SNP members were outraged – or so they claimed. One issue during the election campaign was very clear my constituents thought it wrong and simply unfair that Scottish members should yield so much power and influence over issues that did not affect Scotland. I would go as far as to say that my constituents were not just angry but genuinely quite hostile towards Nicola Sturgeon and the SNP.
What Mr Grayling announced is that at what is known as the Committee Stage, something that all proposed legislation must pass through, there must be a majority of MPs who represent English seats – English Votes for English Laws.
For the Labour members to ignore the wishes of those who they represent seems odd and is yet another reason the Party performed so badly on 7th May. In so many of what has traditionally been their northern heartlands they lost support to both Conservatives and UKIP. Which party wins those votes in 2020 will determine the outcome of the next Election. I suspect that many having seen that UKIP failed to break through will be looking to return to one of the traditional mainstream parties but much water will flow under the bridge before then. There will doubtless be by-election shocks, unexpected swings in all directions, unpredictable events and of course the EU referendum.
Back to Mr Grayling and his other title of President of the Privy Council – what is it, what does it do and who are its members? It is presided over by the Queen and always meets standing up.
The Council formally advises the Sovereign on the exercise of the Royal Prerogative, and together (as the Queen-in-Council) they issue executive instruments known as Orders in Council, which among other things are used to make Regulations. The Council advises the Sovereign on the issuing of Royal Charters, which are used to grant special status to incorporated bodies, and city or borough status to local authorities.
Privy counsellors take an additional oath of allegiance to Her Majesty and take the title of Right Honourable. Many people address MPs as Right Honourable but only those who are Privy counsellors should be addressed as such. For the rest of us we are referred to as Honourable but only when in debate whereas the Rt. Hon. Is for life, sometimes it is conferred as an honour and sometimes for practical reasons – all senior ministers and senior shadow ministers become Rt. Hon. and can confer on ‘Privy Council terms.’