The Scottish Parliament has primary and

secondary legislative powers, as well as the power

to set income tax rates. The Scotland Act 2012
made changes to the finances of the Scottish
Parliament, including powers relating to borrowing
and income tax, and made a number of
adjustments to the boundary of devolved
responsibilities. Following the rise of the Scottish
National Party (SNP), forming its first majority
Scottish Government in 2011 (and subsequently
acquiring an absolute majority of seats in Scotland
inthe 2015, 2017 and 2019 UK general elections), a
Scottish independence referendum was held on 18
September 2014, which asked the following
question: "Should Scotland be an independent
country?". After 55.3% voted against independence,
Scotland remained in the UK. Following the
referendum, draft legislation was issued, entitled
"Scotlandin the United Kingdom: An enduring
Settlement"[5). This has allowed for increased
borrowing and greater revenue autonomy. Around
40 per cent of the (2020-21) Scottish Budget is
funded from revenue-raising powers devolved to the
Scottish Parliament[6].

Asa result of the Scottish referendum, the position

of MPs from devolved nations was scrutinised, and
the Commission on the Consequences of
Devolution for the House of Commons was

launched. It concluded with an answer to the "West

Lothian" or "English" question, firstly as to whether
MPs from devolved nations should vote on laws
that affect only England. As a consequence, and
after a maiority Co
 WiFi

MPs from devolved nations should vote on laws

that affect only England. As a
after a majority consequence, and
Conservative government came to
power in 2015, new parliamentary
procedures were
enacted to ensure MPs from England (and
Wales)
had more say in legislation
affecting England (and
Wales) only and an English Grand
Committee was
established, passed by the House of Commons[7].
The second aspect of the question, as to
whether
MPs with constituencies in England
should vote on
matters of devolved governments, arises less,
since
most of the issues affecting only the devolved
parts
of the UK are dealt with by the devolved
parliaments.

Furthermore, the Scotland Act of 2016 introduced a

range of new powers for the Scottish Parliament.
Most notably the Parliament is now responsible for
raising more than half of the money it spends[8].
Moreover, the Scottish Parliament sets the income
tax rates and bands applying to non-savings, non
dividend income; the Scottish Government retains
all devolved and assigned Scottish tax revenues.
The Act also gives the Scottish Parliament new
powers regarding: aggregates levy, air passenger
duty, borrowing powers, consumer advocacy, the
crown estate, elections, equal opportunities,
employment programmes, energy efficiency and
fuel poverty schemes, gaming machine licensing,
income tax, onshore oil and gas licensing, public
sector duty regarding socio-economic inequalities,
railway policing, reserved tribunals, roads, social
security, transport and VAT revenues.