Word.ws English Dictionary

West Lothian question

West Lothian question proper noun: the anomaly whereby Scottish MPs can vote on issues affecting England, but English MPs cannot vote on Scottish issues.

Proper noun

the West Lothian question

  1. (UK) The anomaly whereby Scottish MPs can vote on issues affecting England, but English MPs cannot vote on Scottish issues.

Origin of West Lothian question

Coined by Enoch Powell MP in 1977 after series of similar questions originally raised by Tam Dalyell, MP for West Lothian.

Questions about West Lothian question

What does West Lothian question mean?
West Lothian question means the anomaly whereby Scottish MPs can vote on issues affecting England, but English MPs cannot vote on Scottish issues.
What part of speech is West Lothian question?
West Lothian question is a proper noun.

Words near West Lothian question in the dictionary

  1. West Linn
  2. West Linton
  3. West Lockinge
  4. West Los Angeles
  5. West Lothian
  6. West Lothian question
  7. West Low German
  8. West Lulworth
  9. West Lynn
  10. West Maas en Waal
  11. West Macedonia

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: West Lothian question (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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