Proposed changes to devolution arrangements in the UK have given rise to the idea of restricting parliamentary votes on ‘English laws’ to ‘English’ M.P.s (‘English votes for English laws’, or EVEL). But the legal and constitutional meanings of ‘English’ are unclear. At an artificial level, in relation to voting in the House of Commons, it is clear enough: the ‘English’ votes in question are those of M.P.s representing constituencies in England (rather than Scotland, Wales, or Northern Ireland). The argument for limiting parliamentary voting in this way is that the Scottish Parliament (made up of M.S.P.s, not Scottish M.P.s, we should note) has the opportunity to legislate without reference to the Westminster Parliament (which includes representatives of English, Welsh and Northern Ireland constituencies) on matters which the Scotland Act 1998 does not reserve to the Westminster Parliament.
This line of reasoning implies that the Westminster Parliament operates legislatively in two…
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Utopia, you are standing in it! 
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