Today I asked Nick Clegg, the Deputy Prime Minister, if we can have English Votes for English Laws.
Government figures show that every single English household is paying £420 extra in tax, to subsidise public services in Scotland.
This means that Harlow families are paying upto £16 million pounds a year to Scotland - in exchange for very little. This is a colossal sum of money. Just think what that cash could do, if it was kept in our town, and spent on Harlow.
My full question and Nick Clegg's response follows below:
Robert Halfon (Harlow): Thank you Mr. Speaker. Treasury figures show that every English household pays £420 in Tax to subsidies Scottish services. This means that Harlow families from my constituency are sending £16 million a year to Scotland. Is it not time to readdress the balance and have English votes for English laws?
Nick Clegg (Deputy Prime Minister): Well Mr Speaker, I'm sure he'll want to take the opportunity to make his views known to the Commission. But the Commission itself, of course is focused, as my Hon. Friend has just explained on procedures in this House, on how they are affected by the process of devolution. So I am not sure if his concerns will be directly relevant to the central terms of reference of the Commission.
I have spoken about this issue in the House before. Please click one of the links below to read my other blog posts on this issue.
Post 1
Post 2
Post 3
by Robert Halfon - www.roberthalfon.blogspot.com
Well done, Rob! Thank you so much for asking the questions that you have about the West Lothian question. It is grossly unfair that people struggling survive in Harlow and the rest of England are forced to subsidise others with much higher standards of living in Scotland.
ReplyDeleteMy daughter is half Scots, we have many family members in Scotland and love Scotland and the Scots people. We hope that the West Lothian question and the Independence issue can be fairly resolved, with England and Scotland remaining in union. But we both want these unjust subsidies stopped.
Scots who want Devo Max - or subsidised independence for Scotland - are asking for the absurd and impossible. They want their cake and eat it and the people of England, even the large number of Scots in England, will never stand for this.