MPs' attitudes to the English question

Guy Lodge, 3 February 2010

A letter from Guy Lodge of IPPR...

I just wanted to draw your attention to a paper IPPR has published which reports the findings of a survey we have conducted exploring MPs' attitudes towards the English Question.

The main findings are:

There is little support among MPs for the status quo - just 10% back this, the lowest any option received (more - 11% - supported an English Parliament)
However, while there is a clear mandate for reform, opinion is divided over what to do. Tory MPs strongly support English votes on Eng laws, whereas (unsurprisingly) Labour strongly oppose such a move.
The one area where there is cross-party support concerns finance, where 62% of MPs claimed the distribution of money between the nations is unfair.
It is Tory MPs who are most agitated by these issues: 72% believe that England has lost out since devolution to Scotland and Wales, and so we argued that Cameron will come under pressure to answer the English Question if elected.

The report can be found at the IPPR website, and the Telegraph has published a short op ed we did.

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