[EL] Query relating to UK proposal to restrict voting on English policy to MPs from English electorates

[Rob Richie]

The Scotland referendum was fascinating in many ways -- extremely high
turnout, much-applauded implementation of 16-year-old voting age, deeply
substantive debate about balance of central and local power and more.

With momentum shifting toward independence, prime minister David Cameron
and leaders of the other major parties in parliament rushed to promise
greater devolution of power to Scotland. After the referendum vote,
however, Cameron then proposed that this devolution of power would be
twinned with taking power away from all MPs not elected in England from
voting on policies limited to England.

In short, Cameron is trying to devolve power without creating a regional
government. It seems fraught with peril to me, as it would change the
dynamics of a legislature greatly if members couldn't negotiate with one
another on every vote -- and it could lead to a puzzling situation where
the Labour Party had an overall majority in parliament, but a minority in
the English-only electorates. It's also leading to ideas for reforming how
parliament would vote on English-only matters like this one in the
Economist that tries to introduce proportional representation for
English-only votes without changing single member districts ("Each English
MP's vote could be weighted according to the total number of English voters
who backed his party, ensuring proportional representation without breaking
the constituency link. Smaller parties without MPs could provide
representatives for such votes (perhaps from a list published before
general elections) to ensure proportionality."
http://www.economist.com/blogs/blighty/2014/09/labour-and-english-only-votes

I was wondering if anyone knows of a precedent of a legislative body that
doesn't allow all its members to vote on everything that comes before that
body.

Thanks,
Rob








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