LONDON: U.K. Conservative Party is to set out plans to allow only lawmakers representing regions affected by a tax level to vote on that tax.
The proposal, a response to plans already announced that give Scotland’s Parliament control over Scottish income tax, could affect the ability of parties that rely on Scottish support to govern the U.K. Had it been in effect when Gordon Brown, a Scot, was chancellor of the exchequer, he wouldn’t have been able to vote on central measures in his own budgets.
The announcement, which will be made today in a speech by Leader of the House of Commons William Hague in London, is the latest ripple from last year’s referendum on Scottish independence. Whether it is implemented depends on whether the Tories are still in power after May’s general election. They’re currently neck-and-neck with Labour.
“We Conservatives believe that this principle of English consent, the English veto, should be extended to taxation when the equivalent decisions have been devolved to Scotland –- and under a Conservative government it will be,” Hague will say, according to extracts of his speech released in advance. “We believe that the equivalent taxes in England should require the consent of English members of parliament.”
