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Cameron will tomorrow meet a selection of Tory lawmakers who are pressing for a new “English Votes for English Laws” rule in Parliament, preventing Scots from voting on English legislation. The U.K. Independence Party, to which a Conservative lawmaker defected last month, has also backed the idea.

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Such a rule could be devastating to Miliband, whose party currently won 41 of the Scottish seats in the Commons in 2010, compared with the Tories’ one, out of a total of 59.

As things stand, if Miliband were to win a majority of less than 40 in next year’s election, as numerous recent opinion polls have suggested, he would have to use the votes of Scottish lawmakers to deliver policies that only affect England.

If he couldn’t do that, he would face the prospect of being unable to set domestic policy on areas under the responsibility of Scotland’s semi-autonomous Parliament and government, including health, education and welfare policy.

Writing in the Mail on Sunday newspaper, Cameron said “the challenge to Labour and Ed Miliband is clear: either resolve this issue with us, or explain to the people of the rest of the U.K. why they shouldn’t have the same powers as we are rightfully devolving to the people of Scotland.”

“David Cameron doesn’t think he can carry his own backbenchers, never mind the threat from UKIP, unless he links Scottish progress to changes in England,” Salmond told Sky News television.

“Ed Miliband doesn’t want to do that, because Labour would lose their majority over English business in the House of Commons; That is the logjam that the Westminster leaders got themselves into within 24 hours of the ballots closing in Scotland,” Salmond said. “These seem to me two irreconcilable positions.”