How different would history have been if Scottish MPs couldn't vote?

TL;DR version: Not very different

Since the Scottish parliament was founded in 1999, MSPs have been able to vote on matters that affect Scotland only, while Scotland's 59 Westminster MPs have still been able to vote on affairs affecting England.

That has riled some in England, and with further Scottish devolution expected following last week's independence referendum, the West Lothian question is not going to go away.

But pro-democracy website MySociety.org has mined data from Public Whip and found that only four England-only issues (out of the 5,000 House of Commons votes since 1997) would have had a different outcome without the Scottish vote.

Without Scotland:

1. No NHS foundation trusts?

The majority of MPs would have voted against introducing NHS foundation trusts, bodies with a degree of financial and managerial independence from the Department of Health.

2. Lower tuition fees?

The majority of MPs would have voted against allowing university tuition fees to increase from £1,125 per year to up to £3,000 per year, and against making other changes to higher education funding and regulation arrangements.

3. No foundation schools?

The majority of MPs would have voted against a proposed timetable for a bill which aimed to allow schools to achieve 'foundation' or 'trust' status. A different timetable may have been negotiated regardless.

4. Different make-up of (the now-disbanded) regional select committees?

Government would have decided that the make-up of regional select committees would need to reflect a balance of the voters living in each region, and the committee would need to have at least one member from each of the main three parties. Regional select committees were disbanded in 2010.

Some of these issues, such as tuition fees and NHS foundation trusts, are highly contentious, a very small percentage (0.08 per cent) of the House of Commons votes would have actually had a different outcome.

If Scottish MPs had no votes at all in the House of Commons since 1997, the figure of different outcomes rises slightly - to 21 out of 5,000. One of the most significant decisions that would have been different was on the intervention in Syria. Without Scotland’s MPs, David’s Cameron’s motion to take action against the country, would have been backed.

You can read MySociety.org's full findings here.

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