William Hague speaking to The Centre for Policy Studies, July 1999:

“English MPs should have exclusive say over English laws. People will become increasingly resentful that decisions are being made in England by people from other parts of the UK on matters that that English people did not have a say on elsewhere. English nationalism will build up. I think it is a dangerous thing to allow resentment to build up in a country. We have got to make the rules fair now.”

Under William Hague and (later) Iain Duncan Smith the 2001 Conservative Manifesto said this:

When Parliament is discussing something that affects the whole of the United Kingdom, all MPs should vote. But only English and Welsh MPs will be entitled to vote on Government Bills relating to England and Wales. And English MPs alone will vote on the remaining laws which apply exclusively to England.

Iain Duncan Smith, House of Commons debates, 9 July 2003:

The Prime Minister is reduced to getting MPs who will not even be affected by this change to drive through his legislation for England. He is ploughing on, despite the fact that every single Labour MP stood on a manifesto that said that they would not introduce top-up fees.

Michael Howard, Telegraph, February 2004:

It is clearly wrong that MPs from Scotland should be able to vote on legislation concerning issues which have been devolved to the Scottish Parliament

Under Michael Howard the 2005 Conservative Party Manifesto said this:

Now that exclusively Scottish matters are decided by the Scottish Parliament in Edinburgh, exclusively English matters should be decided in Westminster without the votes of MPs sitting for Scottish constituencies who are not accountable to English voters. We will act to ensure that English laws are decided by English votes.

David Cameron interviewed on BBC News 24, January 2007:

I would like to see a system where when the UK Parliament was discussing purely matters that affect English constituencies then only members of Parliament for English constituencies have the final say. I think we could do that, I think it would correct the imbalance. Because at the moment the Scottish Parliament determines health and education up in Scotland and then Scottish MPs come and vote on those things in England. It’s not balanced or fair and I think we can sort that out.

Under David Cameron the Conservative Party Manifesto said this:

Labour have refused to address the so-called ‘West Lothian Question’: the unfair situation of Scottish MPs voting on matters which are devolved. A Conservative government will introduce new rules so that legislation referring specifically to England, or to England and Wales, cannot be enacted without the consent of MPs representing constituencies of those countries.

After a decade of informing everyone who demanded an English Parliament that English Votes on English Laws was the answer to the governance of England, suddenly – now that they’re in government – they don’t seem so sure about it. This is what David Mundell had to say on the matter in the House of Commons on 21 July 2010:

My hon. Friend will be aware that the coalition agreement specifically commits this Government to establishing a commission to look at the West Lothian question. We will bring forward proposals in the autumn.

Notice he didn’t say which Autumn.