HAVING got used to the wonderful acronym Evel, English Votes for English Laws, we may in the not too far-off future have to become accustomed to Svel, Scottish Votes for English Laws.

 

Just before Christmas, Alex Salmond, the First Nationalist, let slip the SNP were thinking of dropping their self-denying ordnance at Westminster of not voting on anything they regarded as affecting only England.

This week, Nicola Sturgeon put flesh on the Salmond bones, making clear Alec's Army of SNP MPs, post May 7, would be prepared to vote on legislation affecting England's NHS to reverse the privatisation that threatened to have a budgetary knock-on effect on Scotland's own devolved NHS.

Of course, this bodes the question, using the budgetary knock-on principle, why stop at health? What about education, transport or whatever?

But what Mr Salmond and Ms Sturgeon appear to be about is showing, so to speak, a bit of political leg to Ed Miliband, who, if the electoral arithmetic pans out, might have to become unusually cosy with those nasty Nationalists not only to enter No 10 but also stay there for any length of time.

Meantime, the grand purveyor of Evel used his first venture to Scotland since the referendum vote to make crystal clear that fairness to England meant stopping Scots from voting on England-only matters.

Yet, once again David Cameron, just as he did on the morning of the referendum result, appeared to show himself more as a political tactician than a strategist.

With a deal of understatement, the Prime Minister admitted "we're going to have to find a way through the Evel proposal to safeguard the integrity of the UK budgeting process but also to make sure that there's a fair arrangement".

At least, he did not use the word muddle but the impression was given.

Mr Cameron's Cabinet chum William Hague has been busy working out which of three Evel options, the Tories will support. Chances are, they will plump for so-called Option 3, which involves inserting between the last two stages of a Bill, a Grand Committee of English MPs, which would vote on a Legislative Consent Motion. The hope is it would be binding.

Under this option, Scottish MPs would be able to take part in all the stages of a Bill apart from the detailed Committee Stage and the newly inserted English Grand Committee Stage.

But given Scots MPs and Welsh and Northern Irish ones too would be able to take part in the very final vote, Third Reading, then, in theory, they could combine with some English MPs to veto an English-backed Bill. If this happened, the legislative process would have to start from scratch.

Now England-only legislation might for some be reasonably straightforward to deal with but this week Chancellor George Osborne made clear the Evel principle would apply to the UK Budget and the consequent UK Finance Bill.

In these circumstances, Mr Cameron's "finding a way through" could be tricky under our increasingly Heath Robinson-constructed constitution.

When asked precisely how Scots MPs would be banned from votes on the Budget, a member of the No 10 Praetorian Guard paused and said: "This will have to be looked at moving forward." You bet.