Tony Blair’s Labour government implemented its devolution policy in the late 1990s, providing for a Parliament in Scotland and assemblies for Wales and Northern Ireland. This created a problem in parliamentary law-making because MPs from these regions could vote on bills that only affected England, whereas English MPs were no longer able to influence law and policy in the devolved regions. This problem was known as the West Lothian question and became especially controversial when MPs from the devolved regions were able to influence law and policy on health and education for England.
Following the Scottish independence referendum of 2014, which had pressured the then Coalition government to promise greater powers to the Scottish Parliament and in turn more power to English MPs, the Conservative government came to power in 2015 with a manifesto pledge to secure ‘English votes for English laws’ (EVEL) in the parliamentary law-making process.
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