David Cameron has been accused of attempted "gerrymandering" after he called for Scottish MPs to be barred from voting on taxes and welfare spending in England.

The Prime Minister announced plans to restrict Scots MPs voting rights less than an hour after the independence result was declared.

Critics accused the Conservative leader of a landgrab that could prevent a Scot becoming Chancellor or Prime Minister ever again. 

A number of Labour MPs immediately denounced the move as a Conservative ruse to create a separate Tory-controlled  power base at Westminster if Ed Miliband wins the next general election.

Making the announcement, Mr Cameron said he was "delighted" that Scots had rejected independence.

"As I said during the campaign, it would have broken my heart to see our United Kingdom come to an end," he said.

But, he added,  while the voice of Scotland had now been heard, "the millions of voices of England must also be heard."

"The question of English votes for English laws, the so-called West Lothian question, requires a decisive answer," he said.

"So, just as Scotland will vote separately in the Scottish Parliament on their issues of tax, spending and welfare so too England, as well as Wales and Northern Ireland, should be able to vote on these issues."

There was a furious response from senior Labour figures.

Owen Smith, the shadow Welsh Secretary, denounced the move as "Tory gerrymandering to hang on to power at Westminster".

His fellow frontbencher, shadow foreign secretary Douglas Alexander, said the move was "wholly inadequate" and a "knee-jerk response".

Mr Alexander accused Mr Cameron of trying to head off a revolt among Tory MPs against their leader's vow this week to retain the controversial Barnett formula. The calculation awards Scotland a higher level of public spending per head than England.

Some senior Liberal Democrats also appeared lukewarm on Mr Cameron's proposals. Danny Alexander, the Liberal Democrat Chief Secretary to the Treasury, suggested that the final result could be a watered down version of "English votes".

He pointed to the the Prime Minister's own McKay Commission which recommended taking a vote among English MPs on English legislation - but said the results should not be binding.

Mr Alexander said that the McKay report was a "useful starting point for conversation".

Downing Street sources suggested that the handover of extra tax-raising powers to Scotland, promised during the referendum campaign, would "lessen tensions" around restricting Scottish MPs voting rights at Westminster.

Mr Cameron announced that a cabinet committee, headed by William Hague, the former Tory leader, is to look at English votes.

Mr Hague said his party wanted to find cross-party agreement on the issue.

But, he also threatened to make the issue a dividing line come next May, saying: "If we can't reach agreement then the parties have to go into the election with their positions."

The Prime Minister is struggling to head off a growing backlash among even his own ministers over the 'gains' Scotland is seen to have won as a result of the referendum.

Mr Cameron underlined his commitment to greater devolution of power to Scotland with an announcement that Glasgow's Commonwealth Games supremo, Lord Smith of Kelvin, would oversee the process.

Appointing Lord Smith of Kelvin to oversee the process of devolving more powers to Scotland will be seen as a shrewd move by many.

The Glaswegian has a reputation as a safe pair of hands and has a long track record at the top of the business world.

But the crossbench peer has also combined his many and varied commercial interests with significant roles that have put him at the heart of public life in Scotland.

When Glasgow was chosen to host the Commonwealth Games, it was the leading businessman that the Scottish Government turned to in the hunt for someone to chair the organising company.

First Minister Alex Salmond said at the time that Lord Smith had a "proven track record" and "tremendous" experience.

With a lifelong interest in museums the peer was quick to snap up the role of chairman of National Museums Scotland. He described the opening of the new Museum of Scotland as one of the proudest days of his life.

A former BBC Governor and head of the Broadcasting Council for Scotland, he also held the role of chairman of the BBC's Children in Need.

In 2003 he was invested as chancellor of Paisley University, which became the University of the West of Scotland, and held the role until September last year.

Educated through a bursary at Allan Glen's School in Glasgow, he went on to qualify as a chartered accountant in 1968 and held senior positions with National Commercial and Glyns Ltd, the Royal Bank of Scotland and Charterhouse Bank.

In 1989 he joined Morgan Grenfell as chief executive officer and quickly hit the headlines after suspending Nicola Horlick, the so-called "superwoman" of the City. He remained at the helm for 12 years.

For more than a decade he was chairman of global engineering company the Weir Group until stepping down last year.

Among the numerous non-executive directorships he has held were stints at MFI, Stakis and Network Rail.

Lord Smith became the first chairman of the UK Green Investment Bank and also chairs energy giant SSE.

Away from business and public service, a passion for the environment led to the peer, who is married with two daughters, to buy Inchmarnock, a small uninhabited island off the west coast of Scotland, where he breeds Highland cattle.