Nigel was yesterday among a small group of senior Conservative MPs invited to Chequers, the Prime Minister’s official country residence, to discuss extending the devolution settlement to include English votes for English laws and finally solve the West Lothian Question.
Speaking from Westminster this morning Mr Evans said, “I was delighted to be able to attend the summit yesterday at Chequers and am totally in support of the introduction of English only votes on devolved matters. I believe that a consensus was reached on this issue and that we are moving closer to reaching a more acceptable constitutional settlement for all of the British people.
Given the result of the Scottish referendum and the proposals for more power to be given to the Scottish Parliament it is only right that English voters are afforded the same amount of representation as Scottish voters. This is not a means to divide the people but purely an evening out of the democratic playing field.
Up to this point, the only people who have lost out in the devolution settlement are the 85% of the population of the UK who live in England. When speaking to the Prime Minister I told him the people of the Ribble Valley feel aggrieved that Scottish MPs are able to make decisions on their schools and hospitals, when they are devolved matters run by MSPs in Edinburgh. It is not on!
As for those who say there will be a two-tier system of MPs at Westminster if changes are made to only allow English MPs to vote on English matters, I told the Prime Minister better that than a two-tier system of citizen, which we now have. Scottish people with a vote in Edinburgh and Westminster and English people with just a vote in Westminster. This has to change.”