North Wilts MP James GraySCOTTISH MPs should be banished north of Hadrian's Wall one day a week, claims the North Wiltshire MP who yesterday started his new job of Shadow

Scottish Secretary.

Tory MP James Gray said his first priority in his new post is to speak out

about the so-called West Lothian question.

The conundrum allows Scottish MPs to vote on purely English matters but

English MPs to have little say over Scotland.

Prime Minister Tony Blair has been criticised in the past for having been being propped up by the support of Scottish MPs on controversial votes like foundation hospitals even though the NHS north of the border is devolved to the Scottish Assembly.

Mr Gray, who was born in Scotland and educated at Glasgow University, spoke

to the Advertiser after Michael Howard handed him his job in his latest

shadow ministerial reshuffle.

He said: "Why should Scottish MPs be coming down to England and bossing us around?

"We discussed (in a past Commons debate) potentially that Parliament could

have English matters on a Monday and Scottish MPs could then join discussions on UK-wide matters on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday. There are a number of options to look at."

But his idea was yesterday rubbished by the government.

Scottish Office spokesman Michael Duncan said: "The government's position is

that you end up with different classes of MPs. There are no plans to differentiate between different MPs."

And Peter Wishart, Scottish National Party whip in the House of Commons

branded his proposal a "contorted solution".

He said: "Instead of having one English day there should be five.

"The shadow secretary of state can come up with all sorts of contorted solutions but he cannot deny that the best solution would be for England to run its own affairs," he said.

Mr Gray said he is delighted to be working for a "tranquil" place like Scotland and pledged to also concentrate on the Barnett Formula which governs the allocation of Treasury cash north of the border.

He said: "Under this formula we have seen Scotland get a lot more money than England"

He also vowed to look closely at issues to do with the economy and transport.

Mr Gray's father John was the Moderator of the Church of Scotland in 1977 and

worked as a minister in Dunblane Cathedral until his death in 1984.

Mr Gray left Glasgow when he was 20 to start a second degree at Oxford but

returned in 1992 when he tried but failed to win Liberal Democrat leader Charles Kennedy's seat in Ross, Cromarty and Skye. Five years later the former shipbroker won North Wiltshire.

In the last Parliament, the MP was the shadow rural affairs spokesman and fought unsuccessfully to prevent the ban on hunting.

Mark Hookham