I have been asked the following question a couple of times recently:  Why should Scotland have 59 MPs and an increasingly powerful Parliament?  This is also an issue I raised, albeit briefly, when co-authoring the “Fiscal Powers” papers for Reform Scotland.

My personal view is, as greater powers are transferred to the Scottish Parliament the number of Scottish MPs should in turn fall.  I see this as a question of fairness.  Scotland cannot have it both ways, i.e. a Parliament with more powers but still retain the same number of MPs.

For the 2005 UK General election the number of Scottish MPs was reduced from 72 to 59.  This reduction brought the average Scottish electorate for an MP closer to the UK average.  The reduction being proposed presently, 59 to 52, is part of the plan to reduce the total number of MPs to 600 from the present 650.

Former PM John Major recently called for the Scottish Parliament to have resposibility for everything other than foreign policy, defence and some economic matters.  That proposal is often referred to as full fiscal autonomy.

Under this scenario I would argue that 24 MPs is sufficient for Scotland.   I would also suggest that these MPs should be elected in a different way.  I would make use of the “regional areas” presently used to elect List MSPs for the Scottish Parliament.  Three MPs could be elected for each region under the STV (single transferable vote) system.   STV is used in Scottish local elections.  That is also likely to ensure a better balance of MPs from Scotland and more closely reflect the votes cast.

I would also argue that it is time to abolish the Scotland Office.  It is not just the fact that public spending is under so much pressure just now but that its time has past.   It is an organisation who appears to have lost its way and serves little purpose.  It also makes sense that the Scottish Government deals directly with the UK Government and/or individual UK Governmental departments.

This is also an issue that needs to be looked at throughout the UK and by that I do not just mean Wales and Northern Ireland.  The UK Parliament also needs to consider how it deals with “English” only business.