David Cameron faces questions over UK devolution

DAVID CAMERON today faces questioning by senior MPs over his potentially politically explosive proposals for wider devolution within the UK in the wake of the Scottish independence referendum vote.

The Commons Liaison Committee will seek answers from the PM. Picture: PA

The Commons Liaison Committee - made up of the chairmen of the various select committees - will seek to question the Prime Minister in detail over his plans for dealing with the constitutional fall-out from the referendum.

In the course of the campaign, the leaders of all three main UK parties signed up to a commitment to hand extensive new powers to Holyrood if Scotland voted to remain part of the Union.

CONNECT WITH THE SCOTSMAN

• Subscribe to our daily newsletter (requires registration) and get the latest news, sport and business headlines delivered to your inbox every morning

• You can also follow us on Facebook, Twitter and Google +

But in the immediate aftermath of the vote rejecting independence, Mr Cameron said that there would have now to be a “new and fair” constitutional settlement for the entire United Kingdom.

In particular, he said there would have to be reform at Westminster to address the thorny issue of “English votes for English laws”, suggesting that Scottish MPs would no longer be able to vote on exclusively English issues.

His proposals drew a furious response from Labour - whose chances of forming a majority government at Westminster have traditionally depended upon winning a strong bloc of Scottish MPs.

Labour accused the Tories of seeking to exploit the constitutional issues raised by the referendum for narrow party political purposes while former prime minister Gordon Brown warned that it could lead to the break-up of the UK that they had been seeking to avoid.

With no realistic prospect of agreement in what remains of the current parliament, the three main parties are now expected to set out their rival proposals for reform at next year’s general election.

SEE ALSO

• ‘Scotland split over direction of devolution’

• Nicola Sturgeon calls for minimum wage devolution

• Comment: Devolving welfare is too complex to rush

• PMQs: Cameron mocks Ed Miliband over Scots poll

SCOTSMAN TABLET AND IPHONE APPS

• Download your free 30-day trial for our iPad, Android Android and Kindle apps

• Keep up to date with all aspects of Scottish life with The Scotsman iPhone app, completely free to download and use