More tax and legislative powers are on the way for Holyrood, but not until after the UK General Election. The Scottish Secretary Jim Murphy unveiled fresh proposals on the constitution ahead of next week's effort from the Scottish Government to win support for a referendum on Independence.
Scottish Secretary Jim Murphy set out the plans in the most radical shake up since devolution in 1999.
Scotland may also be given powers to regulate air weapons, set drink-drive limits and set a national speed limit, MPs were told.
The White Paper arises from the deliberations of the Calman Commission, backed by Labour, the Tories and Lib Dems at Holyrood. The Government at Westminster committed to backing most of the proposals.
In a Commons statement, Mr Murphy said the powers would not be introduced until after the General Election.
Mr Murphy said Scotland had received the same per-head increase in public funding as the rest of the UK since 1997.
"But ten years on, the commission recommended a new deal on funding - retaining the stability and fairness of the block grant while improving accountability," he said.
Under the proposals, Scotland would not just be held to account on how it spent public money but also how it raised it.
"We will give the Scottish Parliament greater freedom but also the responsibility to set the level of income tax in Scotland. In future the size of Scotland's budget will be down to decisions made in Scotland."
Mr Murphy said Scotland would also be handed new powers on capital borrowing, stamp duty, land tax, aggregates levy and landfill tax.
The commission's recommendation on air passenger duty would be kept under review by the Government.
He said that the Government "agrees in principle" to devolving regulation of air weapons to the Scottish Parliament but insisted that recent changes enforced by the Government were having effect
On the drink-drive limit, Mr Murphy said he believed there were benefits to having a single limit across the UK but there were no "overwhelming reasons" why the limit should not be devolved.
Scottish ministers should also have powers to determine the national speed limit in Scotland.
But Mr Murphy said Westminster would reserve the regulation of all healthcare professions to ensure a "consistent, regulated regime across the country".
He said: "We will introduce a Scotland Bill as soon as possible in the next parliament to introduce the Calman package.
"We will phase in the new financial arrangements carefully and we plan to have the changes in place by the next term of the Scottish Parliament."
The plans would create a "stronger, more accountable" Holyrood within the framework of the UK, as "strength of unity" was such an asset.
For the Tories, David Mundell raised concerns over the timing of the statement so close to the General Election. He warned the government's White Paper should not "bind" any incoming Conservative government.
Conservatives accepted that Holyrood needed to be more financially accountable and that Westminster and Holyrood needed to start working constructively together. But he added that they would not adhere to proposals “launched in the dying days of this Parliament”.
Mr Mundell pointed out that rivalry between Labour and Tories was nothing compared to that between both parties and the SNP, who he described as "extremists".
On Monday Alex Salmond will publish an Independence Referendum Bill, meaning the constitutional choice at the next election will between his vision of independence and more devolved powers.
The constitutional status quo is now effectively over. The only questions that remains is whether it will be a Labour or a Conservative Government that brings the change, and whether or not the the Tories water down what was announced.
Last updated: 25 November 2009, 22:02
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