"A lively debate" it certainly was.
MPs kept pointing out they had no time, or need, for the interventions that are supposed to add life when debate drags in the House of Commons.
That was more to do with the 4pm guillotine on a single day's consideration of a procedural motion.
Wokingham's John Redwood, who has been single-handedly guiding many people in England through the new landscape of devolved powers, had just a few minutes to make his speech.
But he made the most of it.
"I speak for England" he thundered, the instant he sprung to his feet, to a full and expectant chamber. He told MPs: "Today is the chance to start to put right some of the injustice to England".
The time had come to "redress the balance" with what he called "very mild and moderate" proposals.
Mr Redwood added that English MPs had "always been at the bottom of the heap" and that it was wrong that Scottish MPs could vote on matters in his constituency, such as hospitals and schools, but that he didn't have the right to vote on these matters in Scotland. Mr Redwood said he hoped the House would "give England a hearing" today.
"Breaking up the Union"
Labour's Chris Bryant disagreed with the principle of English Votes for English Laws, or EVEL, calling it a charter for breaking up the Union, and also criticised the practical problems of implementing it.
He tried to tempt Leader of the House Chris Grayling into a trap as proof he didn't understand his own plan. And neither did he believe anyone else understood it either.
"Mr Grayling tells me that the government will provide clear instructions to the Speaker on how he should certificate but that is surely to turn the Speaker into the creature of the Crown, not the servant of this House."
The SNP brought more than life to the debate - but claimed it was grievance not fairness that motivated the desire to create at least two tiers of MP in the Commons chamber.
MP for Perth Pete Wishart told the Commons: "Scotland is watching this and the mood is darkening. If this is an exercise in saving the Union you could not have contrived of a more inept way to save the Union."
So when the vote came it seemed untroubled by the speeches in the chamber - 312 MPs in favour 270 against. Division on traditional lines.
And Labour Welsh MP Kevin Brennan poured salt in the wound with a point of order, suggesting MPs should now wear different colours to reflect the difference in their new voting rights.
So has a lively debate brought death to the West Lothian question? It certainly won't have settled the sense of injustice felt on all sides.
