“David Cameron will tell MPs that he wants to hold a vote on English home rule before the next election, cornering Ed Miliband as the leaders stave off accusations of backtracking over devolution. The prime minister will honour his pledge to give greater powers to Scotland regardless of whether he reaches a deal on “English votes for English laws”, Downing Street said last night. There is growing anger north of the border at the suggestion that the three main Westminster parties will fail to deliver the fast-tracked handover of powers promised before last Thursday’s referendum.” – The Times(£)
>Today: Nadhim Zahawi MP on Comment: No more inertia. We need English votes for English laws as soon as possible
>Yesterday: Lord Ashcroft on Comment: A victory for Project Reasonable Caution – but let’s not learn the wrong lesson from Scotland
“David Cameron will today seek to quell unrest over ‘bribes’ for Scotland – as senior Tories insist laws giving England equivalent powers must be passed within months. The Prime Minister has invited 20 MPs, including some of his fiercest backbench critics, to his country retreat, Chequers, to thrash out plans for ‘English votes for English laws’. Many Conservatives say powers over tax, welfare and spending must only be ceded to Edinburgh if Scottish MPs are barred from voting on them at Westminster.” – Daily Mail
>Today:
“Ed Miliband refused 13 times yesterday to back David Cameron’s proposal for ‘home rule’ for England. As the fallout from Scotland’s independence referendum threatened to engulf both main political parties, the Labour leader repeatedly declined to agree that Scottish MPs should be barred from voting on laws that only affect England. He warned that the move would create two classes of MP – and suggested it could ‘drive our country apart’. However, there has been a backlash among his own MPs, many of whom warn that the party could be seen as ‘anti-English’ unless it supports reform that gives the country the same rights promised to Scotland.” – Daily Telegraph
>Yesterday: LeftWatch: Labour made this English rod for its own back
“An attempt by David Cameron to outflank Ed Miliband on a new constitutional settlement for the UK ran into trouble on Sunday night when a senior Liberal Democrat cabinet minister said that the plans for devolution in England should not proceed without attempting a consensus with Labour. As Downing Street was forced to issue an unequivocal “no ifs, no buts” declaration that the prime minister would deliver further powers to the Scottish parliament, Danny Alexander criticised the Tory handling of the aftermath of last week’s referendum north of the border.” – The Guardian
“Conor Burns, Conservative MP for Bournemouth West, said if more powers are handed to the Scottish parliament he wanted to reduce the number of MPs that Scotland sends to Westminster. “Certainly I think there should be a discussion on the number of Westminster Scottish MPs,” he said. “You’ve had significant devolution to Scotland already and three Westminster parties want to devolve more. Reflecting that, you’ve got members of the Scottish parliament who are very well resourced with staff allowances and responsibilities to support their constituent casework and yet you’ve got Westminster Scottish MPs who are no longer doing casework on devolved issues, who are also supported to the same extent as MPs representing English constituencies, who are doing a lot more casework. So in essence it boils down to this: we already have two classes of MPs.” – The Times(£)
“Major constitutional proposals will be enacted before the election. Labour needs to seize the initiative here and become pro-English. Its failure in the coming days of the party’s annual conference to realise the extent to which the political game has changed risks our long-term survival as a contestant for power in the new English Assembly.” – Frank Field Daily Mail
“Many of my constituents call themselves English first and then British. They, not surprisingly, feel very left out of the current debate on Scottish devolution. The establishment’s fix to give even more powers to Scotland has left them angry and bewildered. Angry that their taxes are going to give an extra £1,500 more per head to Scottish residents than English residents and bewildered that anyone should think the current situation fair. If I have to accept that Scotland can make big decisions on health and education without me as an MP for an English constituency having any say at all, what right has an MP for a Scottish constituency to vote on laws that only apply to England?” – Kate Hoey The Sun(£)
“I’ve never understood why people find the West Lothian question so hard. We solve it every day in practice: British ministers and civil servants already have no powers over Scottish education, Scottish agricultural subsidies, Scottish health service priorities, Scottish sentencing policy. It works fine. It’s perfectly possible to exclude Scottish MPs from voting and speaking on these and many other matters, too. There will be the odd moment of confusion when an inebriated Glaswegian MP wanders into the wrong committee debate, but so what? No need to build an over-budget, ugly building in Sheffield and fill it with jobsworth “EMPs”.” – Matt Ridley The Times(£)
“The “vow” that appears on the front of last week’s Daily Record is actually quite vague. It boils down to “extensive” new powers for the Scottish parliament and government, and an agreement to get to work on the agenda as soon as possible. David Cameron is putting William Hague in charge, and we are promised details by Burns night in January. That strikes me as blisteringly fast, when you consider the gravity of the matters at stake. If we give any more powers to Scottish politicians, then we simply must address the basic unfairness to England; indeed, it should have been addressed years ago, as soon as devolution kicked in.” – Boris Johnson Daily Telegraph
“Child benefit would be reduced in real terms by an incoming Labour government, Ed Balls will announce on Monday as the party tries to convince voters it is ready to make painful cuts in order to balance the nation’s books. In his speech to the Labour Party conference in Manchester, the shadow Chancellor will risk a backlash from women voters by arguing that all sections of society will have to make sacrifices so Labour could clear the deficit by 2020.” – The Independent
>Today: LeftWatch: Balls sings a song of savings, does a dance of deficit reduction, then leaves the stage to spend, spend, spend
“Labour general election candidates support tax rises to reduce the deficit and are in favour of scrapping Trident, new research for the BBC suggests. An exclusive survey of 73 candidates for BBC1’s Sunday Politics found that 42% backed raising taxes after 2015 as the “main” way to balance the books. More than half polled also said the nuclear deterrent should be scrapped. Shadow Business Secretary Chuka Umunna rejected claims of a drift to the left, saying Labour was a “centrist” party.” – BBC
“Almost every member of the Scottish cabinet has publicly backed Alex Salmond’s deputy, Nicola Sturgeon, to replace him as SNP leader and first minister. Ms Sturgeon has yet to formally throw her hat into the ring. But on Friday she said she could think of “no greater privilege” than to seek the leadership. Pundits and bookmakers have tipped her as the clear favourite, although as yet there are no declared challengers.” – BBC
>Today: Matthew Elliot on Comment: Ten lessons from the Scottish Referendum for people involved in the EU debate
>Yesterday: Quentin Langley on Comment: How Salmond could have won
“Britain must be prepared to join a wide coalition of countries in deploying ground troops, including special forces, to combat forces from the Islamic State (Isis), the former prime minister Tony Blair has said. In a lengthy essay on the threat posed by Isis on the eve of the UN general assembly meeting in New York, Blair warned that air strikes alone would not be enough to combat the jihadis. The intervention by Blair comes as Britain considers whether to join the US and France in launching air strikes against Isis forces in Iraq and possibly in Syria.” – The Guardian