Tories plan to exclude Scots MPs from voting on matters of English concern

By Rich Bowden, M&C Staff Writer Oct 29, 2007, 10:55 GMT

British leader of the Conservative Party David Cameron arrives at Westminster Abbey in London, for the Service to Commemorate the Bicentenary of the Abolition of the Slave Trade Act, Tuesday 27 March 2007. EPA/RICHARD LEWIS

(M&C) - Tory Leader David Cameron is said to be ready to accept a Conservative plan which would exclude Scottish MPs from being allowed a vote on matters of purely English concern.

The proposal, by former Scottish secretary Sir Malcolm Rifkind, will set up a "Grand English Committee" in Westminster to deal with issues such as education and health which affect England alone. It would mean that Prime Minister Gordon Brown and other Scottish MPs would be denied a vote on these issues.

Mr Cameron has described Sir Malcolm's model as "elegant and attractive" however it has attracted a chorus of disapproval from Labour, Lib Dems and the Scottish National Party.

David Cairns, the Scotland Office minister, said: "Once you breach the principle that all MPs should vote on matters before them in Westminster you get constitutional anarchy."

Alex Salmond, the First Minister, criticised Sir Malcolm's proposal as "some sort of spatchcock solution to appeal for votes in Middle England".

He added, "I am a great believer in an English parliament, and you know a lot of folk say that England couldn't manage on its own. I decry that entirely. I've got every confidence in the people of England to be fully self-governing. I think they'll make a fantastic job of it and we'll be the best of neighbours and the best of friends."

The blueprint of the plan is set to be published within weeks as part of the Tory party's constitutional policy review group.