It takes two or three weeks for the new parliament to get properly underway and this week we have the Queen's Speech, the Parliamentary set-piece that sets the legislative agenda for the coming year.
There will be many bills coming up that were part of our manifesto pledge. I will be pleased to help take them through parliament. But the two items that will be most important for the future of this country are the EU Referendum Bill and the proposals for English MPs with regard issues that specifically affect us here in England.
The EU referendum is pretty straightforward. This has been something that has been brewing one way or another for a couple of decades (at least). I'm certainly pleased that the Labour Party leadership candidates seem to be coming round to the view that we need to give people their chance to voice their opinion and it certainly seemed the case during the election campaign that a referendum was wanted. My view is that we need to do this sooner rather than later and whilst it is absolutely vital that we have a properly informed debate about this, I have no doubt that the longer we allow this to drag on, the more instability we will generate for our economy. I would hope to see a referendum taking place as early as spring next year.
The Scottish issue, also known as English Votes for English Laws, or EVEL, is much more complex and nuanced. At the heart of this lies the fact that the Westminster Parliament can take back devolved powers from the regions and so it is necessary to have Scottish, Welsh and Irish MPs in Westminster to represent the right to keep devolved power. The Scottish Nationalists have arrived in force. There seems to be no love lost between them and the Labour party, but already there is a speculation that they may be here to stir up so much trouble that we want to separate Scotland from the rest of the UK. I hope that is not the case. The UK is far stronger as a union, but already the voices from north of the border are making a not unreasonable point that Scotland may want to stay in the EU should the UK vote to come out. This is an area that will drag on, but it is nonetheless important.