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Ed Miliband: "We're going to deliver. No ifs, no buts"
Ed Miliband has said the pledge of further devolution to Scotland will be fulfilled "no ifs, no buts" amid a row over additional powers for England.
He said he and other leaders had made a "clear" pledge during the referendum and David Cameron should "honour" it.
The Labour leader said he was "open" to the idea of a new role for English MPs but not building a new English Parliament or "dividing" the Commons.
SNP leader Alex Salmond has said voters were "tricked" by the pledge on powers.
Scotland's First Minister claims the timetable for delivering more powers for the Scottish Parliament in the event of a No vote - promised by the leaders of the three main Westminster parties in a joint declaration - is slipping because Mr Cameron can not guarantee his backbenchers, who want more power for English MPs, will vote for it.
But Conservative party chairman Grant Shapps said a "huge amount of work" had already gone into the idea of barring Scottish MPs from voting on English-only laws and this could be done at the same time as giving Holyrood more control over tax and welfare.
In other developments:
- The prime minister is reported to have invited senior Tories to Chequers on Monday to discuss the devolution plans
- Justice Secretary Chris Grayling said English voters would be "furious" if they did not get similar powers to those being touted for Scotland
- Ed Miliband rules out Gordon Brown returning to frontline politics after his key role in the referendum campaign but holds out the prospect of Alistair Darling doing so
- The SNP says it has signed up 8,000 new members since the referendum vote, while Mr Salmond reveals plans to write a book about the campaign entitled '100 days'
- Labour politicians in Wales are urging party leaders to back a fair deal over funding and powers in any discussions on further devolution within the UK
- More than 1,000 people attend a special Church service in Edinburgh to celebrate Scotland's "shared values" and "common purpose"
- Half the Scottish cabinet publicly back Alex Salmond's deputy, Nicola Sturgeon, to replace him as SNP leader
The prime minister announced on Friday that he wanted tax-raising powers for Holyrood to be introduced at the same time as changes to the House of Commons, ending the anomaly which allows Scottish MPs to vote on English-only legislation, such as health and education.
Some in the Labour Party fear the surprise announcement is a "trap" that could undermine a future Labour government, which would rely on its Scottish MPs to give it a majority on key votes.
Mr Miliband rejected this argument in an interview on the BBC's Andrew Marr programme, saying most Labour governments had also had a majority in England.
He refused to be drawn on whether he supports the principle of England-only votes at Westminster, only saying that he was not against "greater scrutiny" by English MPs.
Mr Miliband repeated his call for a national debate on the constitution, saying major changes of the kind being proposed by Mr Cameron could not be drawn up "on the back of a fag packet".
'Together, not apart'"Let's not drive our country apart because David Cameron thinks it is an opportunity for him to do it. Let's keep our country together and it is very important we do it (change) in the right way."
He suggested the pledge for more powers for Scotland could be dealt with separately, telling Andrew Marr that the referendum campaign commitment would be kept.
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Alex Salmond "surprised by the speed" at which Westminster party leaders are "reneging" on their promises
"People right across the UK will say David Cameron made a promise. He did not make a conditional promise. He made a clear promise and he is going to be kept to that.
"I know David Cameron will want to honour that promise....For my part, I am going to keep the promise I made…We are going to deliver on the pledge, no ifs not buts."
The prime minister, he added, had not raised the English issue with him before they signed their joint "vow" with Lib Dem leader Nick Clegg ahead of Thursday's referendum.
The BBC's assistant political editor Norman Smith said Labour was looking at "a grand committee" of English MPs to consider English laws.
Labour's Shadow Business Secretary Chuka Umunna has accused David Cameron of "behaving in a dishonourable way and in bad faith" by seeking to link English votes for English MPs to the issue of Scottish devolution in a way that was not mentioned before the referendum.
'Non-negotiable'The head of the Better Together campaign Alistair Darling has said the pledge of extra powers for the Scottish Parliament is "non-negotiable".
"It was promised, it has to be delivered," he told the Andrew Marr show. "Anyone who welches on that will pay a very high price for years to come."
"The three leaders gave an absolute commitment. I am confident they will deliver it."
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Alistair Darling, Better Together: "Agreement by the three parties... is non-negotiable"
And deputy prime minister Nick Clegg said there were "no ifs, not buts" about the Scottish devolution pledge and it "cannot be made contingent on other constitutional reforms".
The Lib Dem leader, writing in the Sunday Times, suggested the Conservatives were motivated by fears about the rise of UKIP and that "extreme solutions" to the role of English and Scottish MPs at Parliament "could jeopardise the union they purport to defend".
Tory chairman Grant Shapps said there would be no "reneging" on the parties' Scottish commitments but a new English settlement had to be reached "at the same time".
"We fought for a no vote (in Scotland) even though we don't benefit," he told Dermot Murnaghan on Sky News "We put politics aside. Miliband needs to put politics aside."
And Mr Grayling said Holyrood should not receive more powers while Scottish MPs can still "shape the destiny" of the NHS and schools in England and force "socialist policies".
"That would be a travesty of democracy, and would be regarded with fury by the English," he told the Sunday Telegraph.
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