Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland should be allowed to veto a UK exit of the EU, the leader of the Welsh nationalists said yesterday.

Leanne Wood said she was in regular contact with Scotland’s First Minister, Nicola Sturgeon, and they agreed on the plan which would give the Scots, Welsh and Northern Irish the power to compel England to stay in the EU even if a majority of the English electorate voted for withdrawal.

The plan will infuriate right-wing Tories, because there are almost 40 million people in England who would be entitled to vote in a referendum, compared with fewer than eight million in the other parts of the UK. Anti-EU sentiment runs higher in England than in Scotland or Wales.