I have not been an extravagant supporter of the Scottish dimension. But I have changed my mind. I don't give a bugger whether Thatcher has a mandate or not - I will simply do all I can to stop her.

We shall escape the West Lothian question and resolve that difficulty only when we are prepared to countenance a separate Administration for England or for parts of England. That is the inevitable corollary of what we are proposing for Scotland in this Bill, and that is what is bound to flow from it if we go through with it.

What has to be changed is the administration, because we all know that the real problem with the West Lothian question is that an administration for United Kingdom purposes might well lose its majority for English purposes. That is what would have happened, of course, in this Parliament.

If we restrict Scottish Members to issues which would normally be federal in character, we must consider the logic that applies in other federal systems—that they would have larger constituencies than otherwise. With Scottish Members having fewer interests and functions than English Members, the question would arise: should they get away with smaller electorates as well? I find that a difficult proposition to maintain.

One of the major difficulties in a referendum is germane to the subject tonight, namely, that the Scottish people are being invited to vote "Yes" to the proposition that they can have devolution without weakening representation in the House, whereas it is plain to anybody who has followed our debates that that is leading them up the garden path, because the corollary of devolution will be a change in representation in the House.

It would be wrong for those of us from Scotland to...interfere in English domestic affairs after that watershed [devolution] has been reached.