Politics: Scots answer West Lothian question

Most Scots believe their MPs should not be allowed to vote on English and Welsh issues if a Scottish parliament is set up, according to an opinion poll published today.

Three-quarters of Scots regard as unfair Labour's plans for Scottish MPs to be able to vote not only on their own domestic issues but on England and Wales' too, when English and Welsh MPs will not be able to vote on Scottish issues, according to the Scotsman/ICM poll.

Sixty-eight per cent of the 1,000 adults polled by telephone last week believe voters in England and Wales would not tolerate the anomaly, known as the West Lothian question. Just over half of those surveyed - 53 per cent - believe that Scottish MPs in the Commons should not be allowed to vote on exclusively English and Welsh issues.