Controversy
The West Lothian question causes controversy in British politics. Polls suggest that Scottish voters are agreed that the situation is unfair.
In establishing foundation hospitals and agreeing student tuition fees — both controversial policies which do not affect Scotland — Scottish votes were decisive in getting the measures through. The vote on foundation hospitals in November 2003 only applied to England – had the vote been restricted to English MPs then the government would have been defeated. Had there been a vote by English MPs only on tuition fees in January 2004, the government would have lost because of a rebellion on their own benches. Students at English universities are required to pay top-up fees, but students from Scotland attending Scottish universities are not. The legislation imposing top-up fees on students in England passed by a small majority of 316 to 311. At the time, the opposition education secretary Tim Yeo argued that this low majority made the passing of the law due to Scottish MPs voting to introduce tuition fees that Scottish students attending university in Scotland would not have to pay. However, a small part of the bill did relate directly to Scotland which is often omitted from the arguments that it was carried by Scottish MPs voting on an English and Welsh-only bill.
Read more about this topic: West Lothian Question
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