Labour think-tank calls for curbs on Scottish MPs

Gordon Brown was urged to cut the number of MPs from north of the border sitting in the Commons to make it less likely they could help force through controversial legislation.

The influential Institute for Public Policy Research also pressed the Prime Minister to tear up the funding formula which streams £20billion a year to Scotland from Westminster.

Experts said Mr Brown, himself a Scottish MP, must tackle the perceived unfairness caused when the Scottish Parliament was created in 1999.

There are currently 59 Scottish MPs - most of them Labour - out of a total of 646. This is down from 72 before Holyrood opened.

Although the institute described Tory calls for "English votes for English laws" as nonsensical, it warned that constitutional reform was urgently needed.

Fears have increased that the current system is fuelling resentment among English voters.

The number wanting an English parliament has soared from 20 per cent to 60 per cent in less than a year. Opponents claim this would jeopardise the future of the Union.

David Cameron has already drafted secret plans to block Scottish MPs from voting on legislation that applies only to England if the Conservatives win power.

Since devolution, English MPs can no longer vote on key issues such as health and education in Scotland. But Scottish MPs at Westminster can vote on the same issues if they affect England.

Labour has already relied on Scottish votes to pass laws applying only to England, including foundation hospitals and university tuition fees.

Mr Cameron wants to solve this constitutional quandry, known as the "West Lothian question", with a "grand committee" of English MPs which would convene to consider legislation only affecting English constituencies. This solution would not involve creating a separate parliament.

Institute researchers Guy Lodge and Katie Schmueker said Mr Cameron's ideas would be a recipe for "constitutional chaos" but they supported the idea of cutting the number of Scottish MPs.

They said: "Building on what he has already announced and demonstrating his concern for fairness, Brown should further reduce number of Celtic MPs at Westminster. This would decrease the likelihood of votes being carried against an English majority of MPs.

"While the number of Scottish MPs has already been reduced following devolution, they remain over-represented."

The institute argues that reducing the number of Scottish MPs - plus those in Wales and Northern Ireland which also have devolved assemblies - is justified because they now have "less to do at Westminster".

It also pressed Mr Brown to replace the Barnett Formula, which it describes as "another core injustice".

The funding mechanism, set up in the 1970s with the aim of tackling deprivation in Scotland, sends £20billion of extra public spending northwards.

Nick Herbert, the Tory justice spokesman, said: "The report is right about the current unfairness, but wrongly rejects the key way to redress the situation, which is to give MPs in English constituencies the decisive say in the Commons on issues that affect only England."