The constitutional relationship between England and the rest of the United Kingdom has been thrown to the centre of the next general election after senior Conservatives backed plans to strip Scottish MPs of the right to vote on English matters.

Several members of the Shadow Cabinet supported in principle a plan for an English Grand Committee that would mean Gordon Brown and other Cabinet ministers being unable to vote on English schools or hospitals.

Labour gave warning that this could lead to “constitutional anarchy”. Ministers accused the Tories of threatening the existence of the Union.

English MPs have been growing restive over the money received by Scotland from the Treasury. At its conference in Aviemore this weekend, the Scottish National Party confirmed plans to abolish prescription charges. The previous administration, led by Labour, had already introduced free personal care for the elderly and scrapped university tuition fees. English MPs argue that these benefits are being paid for by their constituents.

In his leader’s speech to the SNP conference yesterday, Alex Salmond, the First Minister, stoked the fire by claiming that Scotland would be “immeasurably better off” if it separated from the rest of the UK.

He accused England of depriving Scotland of North Sea oil revenues and of holding his country back. He said that Scotland would be the third most prosperous country in Europe, and the sixth in the world, if it had sole control of oil revenues.

Under the Conservative plan, the English Grand Committee, made up of English MPs, would sit in the chamber of the Commons and deal with matters relating to England. MPs from England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland would continue to sit together to vote on UK-wide matters such as foreign affairs or taxation.

The idea, the brainchild of Sir Malcolm Rifkind, the former Tory Cabinet minister, came amid signs that English MPs from all parties are dissatisfied that Scots are enjoying benefits denied to their constituents.

Sir Malcolm said that his plans were the unfinished business of devolution. “When the House of Commons is discussing English housing or English health or English transport, then why should that not just be left to the English Members of Parliament to decide upon? When these matters are being discussed in Northern Ireland or in Scotland, it’s the Scots and the Northern Irish who decide these matters. That’s what devolution’s all about.”

A Conservative spokesman confirmed that the plan was being considered but said that no decision had yet been taken on whether it would be adopted as party policy. Caroline Spelman, the chairwoman, said that the plan would give a “greater sense of fairness” to the settlement between England and the devolved administrations.

Nick Herbert, the Shadow Justice Secretary, said: “We believe in the Union and we are determined to strengthen it. So we will rebalance our constitution by ensuring that MPs in English constituencies have the decisive say over English laws.”

Sir Malcolm’s idea is being considered by David Cameron’s democracy taskforce, led by the former Chancellor Kenneth Clarke, which is due to report back in the next few months.

Harriet Harman, the Labour deputy leader, told the BBC that the Government would not support plans that threatened the UK and that what people really wanted was more “regional accountability”. She added: “I think this is a very, very dangerous line of argument that the Conservatives are pushing. They used to be the Conservative and Unionist Party and now they are making proposals which wouldn’t help strengthen regional accountability in England but would actually, I think, threaten the Union.”

Ruth Kelly, the Transport Secretary, accused the Tories of “playing fast and loose” with the constitution. “I think it is a recognition by the Conservatives that they are effectively now an English party,” she told Sky News.

Scotland has had its own Parliament, with powers over education, health, the environment, home affairs and income tax, since 1999. The National Assembly for Wales, which was first elected in the same year, has more limited functions, and the power-sharing Northern Ireland Assembly was restored in May 2007.

Mr Salmond told The Andrew Marr Show on BBC One that he backed the idea of English votes for English laws, but that a Grand Committee did not go far enough. “I think the right solution is to have a Scottish Parliament and an English Parliament – I believe independent parliaments – and to do the job properly as opposed to having some sort of spatchcocked solution to appeal for votes in Middle England.”

Devolved economy

— The Barnett Formula was devised in the late 1970s by Joel Barnett, then Chief Secretary to the Treasury. It gives Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales a proportionate increase or decrease in funding linked to English public spending

— The formula is linked to population figures. A change in public expenditure in one geographical area leads to a change in public expenditure in others, proportionate to population

— Under the formula, Scotland gets about £22 billion a year from the Treasury, which means that public spending is higher per head of population north of the Border

— As a result, poor English regions such as the North East receive less money than prosperous areas of Scotland

— Last year Lord Barnett called for the system to be replaced with a formula reflecting the needs of each region, regardless of geography

Source: Times database

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