Cameron pledges 'English income tax' powers within 100 days of a Tory election victory

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England could have a separate income tax rate to Scotland under radical new reforms which will be introduced within 100 days of a Tory election victory, David Cameron announced today.

The Prime Minister pledged to deliver effective ‘home rule’ for England - giving MPs the same powers to set tax rates which have been agreed for Scotland following last year's independent referendum. 

Mr Cameron said in the interests of fairness English MPs must be given a veto on legislation that no longer applies in Scotland.

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High on the list: David Cameron and William Hague will today pledge that delivering effective ‘home rule’ for England will be one of their party’s top priorities if re-elected

Under Mr Cameron's plan English, Welsh and Northern Irish MPs being able to set a separate rate of income tax to that in Scotland with MPs north of the border having no say

Mr Cameron said a Conservative government would have the new system in place in time for the first budget of the new parliament in March 2016.

It will mean English, Welsh and Northern Irish MPs being able to set a separate rate of income tax to that in Scotland – where the SNP is expected to hold sway after the election – with MPs north of the border having no say.

If Wales votes in favour of the Welsh Assembly having income tax powers like those being devolved to Holyrood in a proposed referendum, Welsh MPs would also be excluded.

The plan will involve reforming Parliament’s committee stage, where MPs discuss legislation in detail. 

No Bill or part of a Bill relating only to England would be able to pass to its third reading and become law without being approved in a ‘grand committee’ made up of all English MPs.

The plan is likely to trigger a row with Labour, which opposes the idea of an English veto.

Mr Cameron helps build an industrial fan during a campaign visit in Colchester in Essex this afternoon

The Prime Minister's visit came as he courted English voters with an election pledge to create a separate rate of income tax for England

The party has traditionally relied on the votes of its army of Scottish MPs at Westminster, which it used to implement tuition fees and foundation hospitals even though they did not apply in Scotland.

Labour’s leader in Scotland Jim Murphy yesterday claimed Mr Cameron was ‘cheap’, ‘nasty’ and an ‘election agent’ for the SNP in Scotland.

‘He has given up on the Scottish Tory party and is throwing his lot in with the SNP. David Cameron is the agent and the campaign manager for the SNP,’ Mr Murphy said.

But Mr Cameron, speaking Lincoln, said: ‘We do not support English nationalists, we do not want an English Parliament, we are the Conservative and Unionist Party through and through.

‘This manifesto simply recognises that the democratic picture has got more complicated in the UK, so beyond our main manifesto, English voters deserve one document, clarifying in black and white what they can expect.

‘Soon, the Scottish Parliament will be voting to set its own levels of income tax – and rightly so – but that has clear implications. English MPs will be unable to vote on the income tax paid by people in Aberdeen and Edinburgh while Scottish MPs are able to vote on the tax you pay in Birmingham or Canterbury or Leeds. It is simply unfair. And with English votes for English laws we will put it right.’

Former foreign secretary William Hague added: ‘This is not a vague promise to make this change some time in the future, this is a plan ready to be implemented.

‘We will table our proposals within the first hundred days after the general election. And after consultation with the procedure committee of the House of Commons and running a pilot test of the new rules, we will fully implement our plan within the first year of the new Parliament and apply it to the Budget of 2016.’

Other commitments in the Tories 'English manifesto' include a commitment to spend more on the NHS in real terms every year, deliver a ’truly seven-day NHS’ and keep the Cancer Drugs Fund, which pays for expensive treatments on the English NHS.

It also promises to give more schools in England freedoms so they are in charge of their own affairs, continue to allow charities, teachers and universities to set up new schools in the state sector, and keep school league tables.

Commuter rail fares in England will be frozen for five years, and working parents of three and four-year-olds will get 30 hours a week free childcare.

The right to buy will be extended to all housing association tenants in England, and 200,000 new ‘starter homes’ will be offered at 20 per cent below the market price for first-time buyers under 40.

Mr Cameron added: ‘My message to people who want these things, who want their own home, more childcare, an NHS protected and their taxes cut, is: there is only one way to guarantee it: vote Conservative on May 7. A vote for anyone else makes an Ed Miliband-SNP Government more likely – which will put all these things at risk. Only a strong Conservative Government will deliver for you and your family.’

One of Ed Miliband’s close allies, former Cabinet minister John Denham, urged the Labour leader to issue an ‘English manifesto’, but the party has not done so.