The Regional Affairs Committee, previously known as the Standing Committee on Regional Affairs, is a general committee of the House of Commons of the United Kingdom that considers any matter related to regional affairs in

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

that may be referred to it. The Committee comprises thirteen MPs from English constituencies, although any MP representing an English constituency may participate in its debates. In that it is similar to the

Northern Ireland Northern Ireland ( ga, Tuaisceart Éireann ; sco, label= Ulster-Scots, Norlin Airlann) is a part of the United Kingdom, situated in the north-east of the island of Ireland, that is variously described as a country, province or region. Nort ...

, Scottish, and

Welsh Grand Committee The Welsh Grand Committee ( cy, Uwch Bwyllgor Cymreig), is a committee of the House of Commons of the United Kingdom. It is one of three such grand committees in the United Kingdom Parliament; the other two are for Scotland and Northern Ireland ...

s. Also like those committees, provision is made for it to meet away from Westminster. The Committee was created in 2000, but has not met since June 2004, and no members were appointed during the 2005/10 Parliament.House of Commons Debates 12 November 2008 v 482, c 829
/ref> On 27 May 2010, the

Leader of the House of Commons The leader of the House of Commons is a minister of the Crown of the Government of the United Kingdom whose main role is organising government business in the House of Commons. The leader is generally a member or attendee of the cabinet of t ...

Sir George Young George Samuel Knatchbull Young, Baron Young of Cookham, (born 16 July 1941), known as Sir George Young, 6th Baronet, from 1960 to 2015, is a British Conservative Party politician who served as a Member of Parliament (MP) from 1974 to 2015, h ...

, said that the Government would not reintroduce the regional select committees, which considered matters relevant to each English region, and would announce its plans for the Regional Grand Committees in due course.House of Commons Debates 27 May 2010 c 286
/ref> It was not clear whether the fate of the Regional Affairs Committee would be announced at the same time; however, Young did question its necessity when he was an Opposition backbencher.

References

{{UKParliamentCommittees Committees of the British House of Commons

See also

References