THE Liberal Democrats and Ukip have joined the Conservatives in promising to block Scottish MPs from votes in the House of Commons.

In their manifesto, launched yesterday, the Liberal Democrats proposed an English-only voting stage on legislation that only affects England. This would be “on a proportional basis, genuinely reflecting the balance of opinion in England, not the distorted picture generated by the first-past-the-post system”. The party argued that currently, a government could pass contentious, unpopular legislation affecting only England with the support Scottish and Welsh MPs.

Ukip, which may hold influence in a future Conservative administration, said that it would “insist” on English votes for English laws (Evel).

It follows on from a commitment in the Conservative Party manifesto to bar Scottish MPs from voting on “financial matters” where “equivalent decisions have been devolved to Scotland”.

Chancellor George Osborne defended the policy during a visit to West Aberdeenshire.

Osborne said: “If you have a Scottish rate of income tax, a consequence of that is you have an English rate of income tax and I think it’s only right and fair that English MPs would then have a decisive say over that.

“Of course the whole budget would be voted on by all the UK MPs, including Scottish MPs, and I think that’s a fair arrangement. I think people in Scotland would see it as fair, I also think people in England, Wales and Northern Ireland would see it as fair.”

First Minister Nicola Sturgeon said that the Conservative party’s manifesto proves “that the Tories can’t be trusted to deliver more powers to the Scottish Parliament.”

SNP deputy leader Stewart Hosie said: “This is the same Tory arrogance as when David Cameron walked out of Downing Street the morning after the referendum and tied more powers for Scotland to ‘English votes for English laws’. Mr Osborne has shredded the Smith Commission report.

“As long as key tax decisions affecting Scotland are made at Westminster – such as the income level when people start to pay tax – then Scottish MPs must be able to vote on them. Anything else would be undemocratic.”

He added: “George Osborne’s plans fly in the face of what his party signed up to in the Smith Commission, and further undermine the credibility of the Westminster establishment parties when it comes to more powers for Scotland.

“It is precisely this kind of arrogance that shows why Scotland needs to be able to make our own decisions when it comes to the major issues affecting people living here, which is another big reason to vote SNP next month.”

On Tuesday, Scottish Labour leader Jim Murphy called the proposal a “brutal betrayal” of the Smith Commission.

Speaking at a campaign event in Glasgow, Murphy said: “George Osborne is all over the place.

“He signed up to the Smith agreement, which said explicitly that income tax is a UK tax system, but they have, with their manifesto, ripped up huge tracts of the Smith agreement and rewritten the entire tax legislation of the United Kingdom.

“Now they are desperately trying to backtrack and justify a colossal mistake.”

This, Murphy said, was, “an entire new tax concept, without compensation”, created purely to win support from Ukip voters.