Email
Scotland's decisive rejection of independence has sparked a frenetic constitutional bidding war between David Cameron and Ed Miliband over the future shape of the United Kingdom.
As it became clear that 55% of Scottish voters had said no to independence, the prime minister demanded a new English settlement that would exclude Scottish MPs from ever voting on English matters such as health and education.
Miliband countered with a demand for a constitutional convention to review voting arrangements at Westminster and the powers of English cities, and called for an elected second chamber to represent the regions and nations of the United Kingdom.
If Scottish MPs were prevented from voting on English matters it would be far tougher for Labour to secure a Commons majority on a vast range of legislation.
Meanwhile, the man who briefly threatened Cameron's premiership, a bitterly disappointed Alex Salmond, announced that he would step down as SNP leader and Scotland's first minister.
Speaking in Downing Street shortly after 7am with the no campaign having won in 28 of Scotland's 32 local authority areas, including Edinburgh and Aberdeen, Cameron announced that the price for further Scottish devolution must be an agreement that only English MPs should be allowed to vote on legislation that affects England alone.
The prime minister's early-morning initiative was in part designed to head off a Tory backbench revolt over any perceived privileges being given to Scotland, as well as to avoid being outflanked by Nigel Farage's Ukip.
But the Cameron plan angered Scottish nationalists, who had not been told that further powers for the Scottish parliament might be intertwined with constitutional progress over the English affairs.
Cameron said: "I have long believed a crucial part missing from this national discussion is England. We have heard the voice of Scotland and now the millions of voices of England must also be heard.
"The question of English votes for English laws, the so-called West Lothian question, requires a decisive answer, so just as Scotland will vote separately on their issues of tax, spending and welfare, so too England as well as Wales and Northern Ireland should be able to vote on these issues.
"All this must take place in tandem with and at the same pace as the settlement for Scotland."
His remarks appeared to suggest Scottish MPs would not be able to vote on English fiscal and tax issues, a move that would severely damage the union he has spent two years fighting to defend.
Although he said he wanted to proceed on a cross-party basis, Cameron announced that William Hague, the leader of the house, would oversee a cabinet committee on how only English MPs could be permitted to vote on English laws.
Tory cabinet ministers made clear they wanted Scottish MPs excluded entirely from debates and votes on English-only laws at Westminster, and not just from detailed committee-stage scrutiny of bills. The proposal will feature strongly in the party's election manifesto.
Salmond, speaking at the press conference announcing his resignation after seven years as Scotland's first minister, said that he was "immensely proud of the campaign which Yes Scotland fought and of the 1.6 million voters who rallied to that cause". The yes campaign won in Glasgow with 53.5% of the vote – and also took Dundee with 57% – although it ultimately fell short even of the 48% and 49% level that pollsters were predicting earlier in the week.
But he complained that Cameron was slipping in his campaign promise to give more powers to Scotland promptly. "I spoke to the prime minister today and, although he reiterated his intention to proceed as he has outlined, he would not commit to a second reading vote by 27 March on a Scotland bill," he said.
Cameron, Miliband and Nick Clegg, the Lib Dem leader, jointly signed up to a pledge drawn up by the former prime minister Gordon Brown in which they announced a fast-track timetable to introduce further devolution.
Scotland's vote to stay as part of the UK was also welcomed by the Queen as "a result that all of us throughout the United Kingdom will respect". In a rare personal statement, issued from Balmoral, her Scottish estate, where she is in residence, she acknowledged there would be "strong feelings" both in Scotland and in the rest of Britain, but urged parties to come together.
A government-commissioned report by a former clerk to the Commons, Sir William Mackay, had proposed Scottish MPs should still be able to vote on some English issues, a position also adopted on Friday by Clegg.
Labour, aware of the populist appeal of English nationalism in some marginal seats, simply said it was wary of the idea of introducing two classes of MPs.
Cameron insisted that the timetable for devolution set out in the Scottish referendum campaign would be honoured in full, highlighting the planned publication of an options paper by the end of November and the appointment of Lord Smith of Kelvin to oversee the process.
In practice Cameron's timetable ensures there will be no further transfer of powers to Scotland before the general election.
In a counter-proposal Labour proposed responding to the referendum by launching a convention to discuss reforming the UK's unwritten constitution, starting in November 2015.
The shadow chancellor, Ed Balls, told the Guardian: "We have to ask questions about the way our country is governed. People may not on the doorstep be demanding a constitutional convention, or discussing who votes on what pieces of which legislation at Westminster.
"But it is right that constitutional reform in Scotland needs to be accompanied by reform in England and Wales. That has to be done in a thoughtful and considered way.
"What David Cameron proposed was transparent and shallow. He gave the impression that English votes for English laws is all easy, simple, had been decided and could be done in a matter of weeks."
