Devolved English parliament
After separate regional parliaments or assemblies were introduced in Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland in 1998, issues concerning only these parts of the United Kingdom were often decided by the respective devolved assemblies, while purely English issues were decided by the entire British Parliament, with MPs from Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland fully participating in debating and voting.
The establishment of a devolved English parliament, giving separate decision-making powers to representatives for voters in England, has thus become an issue in British politics.
Despite institutional opposition in Westminster to a Parliament for England, the CEP has had some success in bringing the issue to people's attention, particularly in political and academic circles.
[citation needed] During general elections, all of the single-member constituencies (seats) that constitute the UK Parliament are subject to separate, simultaneous contests, between several candidates.
In the first five years of devolution for Scotland and Wales, support in England for the establishment of an English parliament was low at between 16 and 19 %, according to successive British Social Attitudes Surveys.
[1] A report, also based on the British Social Attitudes Survey, published in December 2010 suggests that only 29 % of people in England support the establishment of an English parliament, though this figure had risen from 17 % in 2007.
[citation needed] However, in July 2015, then Shadow Secretary of State for Business, Chuka Umunna, suggested that the Labour Party should support the creation of a separate English parliament as part of a federal United Kingdom.
[7] Having won a majority in that election, the Conservative government used a change in standing orders in October 2015 to give MPs representing English constituencies a "veto" over laws only affecting England.
[17][18] An earlier ICM poll of 869 English people in November 2006 produced a slightly higher majority of 68 % backing the establishment of such a body.
