I have no problem about the principle of devolution, or of constitutional change, if there are proposals which can apply throughout the United Kingdom and create a stable structure.

Since devolution there has been a growing English consciousness and that has given credence to the unfinished business of devolution. The issue is not an English Parliament. It is how you reform the way in which the House of Commons operates so that on purely English business, as opposed to United Kingdom business, the wishes of English members cannot be denied.

Whether in the Labour Party, the Conservative Party, the Liberal Party or the Ulster Unionists—all of us who share the desire to preserve the Union, must insist that this House does not become an English Parliament. It must be a British Parliament as long as the Union exists, and for it to be a British Parliament it must have roughly comparable powers and responsibilities for the four countries of the Union.

It will be only a matter of time before Northern Ireland will get a devolved form of government, and this House of Commons, instead of being the Parliament of the United Kingdom, will become an English Parliament with added functions for Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. That, clearly, is the worst of all possible solutions because if the British Parliament becomes an English House of Commons, the illogical arguments in favour of independence advanced by the Scottish National Party would become very powerful.

Those who believe in the Union, if they also believe in devolution, must accept that unless they are contemplating Lord Home-type proposals for a federated United Kingdom, the present arrangement will...lead to enormous and legitimate resentment on the part of the 46 million people who live in England.