Indeed, it's actually totally irresponsible for the SNP not to vote upon any law brought forward in the house of commons, the house that they have been elected to represent within, regardless of whether they perceive it to affect them or not. They have been given a mandate to do so and should act upon it.theadore wrote:A change is needed (although it is hardly a dire need) - but as it stands Scottish MPs have every right (and a moral duty) to vote on every issue in the house of commons, as they have been elected to do on behalf of their constituents.
Anything less would be like holding a referendum to reject a bailout and then agreeing to that bailout a few days later.... Ahem.
The problem lies with the mix of some devolved powers. If you are going to devolve powers you have go do it evenly and distributed across all areas; the Scottish can decide how their tax is levied and spent, the Lancastrians theirs, the Yorkies theirs etc. However, then having those smaller sub regions able to then decide upon the macro level could be levied and spent is counter intuitive and leads to a clear conflict of interests. Any Scottish MP that didn't vote for an increase in tax whilst immediately absconding their constituents from that tax through devolved powers, whilst at exactly the same time voting for increased spending within their area would not be representing their constituents to the best of their constituents interests.