One difficulty that I have when gearing up for a General Election is reminding myself what issues Scottish MPs work on?
In other words, what political issues are reserved solely for Westminster? So much of Scottish life is looked after at Holyrood these days that it seems as if our MPs are superfluous. I know they’re not, but it can feel like that because I can hardly recall what issues might be left after health, education, sport, transport, justice, business, planning, agriculture, housing and the rest.
So what issues should we all be mindful of given we have to vote someone in afresh to the Commons in each of our constituencies? Here’s a list of what our prospective Scottish MPs work on:
- Defence
- UK Foreign Policy
- Social Security
- Financial & Economic Matters
- Employment
- Constitutional matters
- Immigration & Nationality
- Monetary System
- Common Markets
- Some transport
- Data Protection
- Energy
- Gambling
- Medical Ethics
- Equal Opportunities
Goodness! That list is long!
Defence, immigration and some taxation powers, yes. But there’s so much on this list that it drills home the necessity of voting well.
It’s all the more necessary then that your local church considers running a local hustings to discover the views of candidates we don’t know.
Moreover, we need to press afresh those who have been our incumbent MPs on new questions that we have and to put them under a little pressure around how they’ve voted.
Check out our hustings guide here to find out what needs to be covered to run a hustings. And don’t forget to notify us and advertise your hustings here at engaGE24, so that those looking for a hustings to attend can find yours!
