AROUND 500 people have signed a petition in Worcester calling for 'English votes for English laws' - with city MP Robin Walker aiming to hit 1,000 by the weekend.

In just one hour down the city's High Street, 470 people put pen to paper calling for the long awaited shake-up of the House of Commons to ban Scottish MPs from voting on issues only affecting England.

Mr Walker said the response was probably the best he's ever had since being elected in 2010, saying everyone stopped was desperate to sign it.

The petition, which is being handed to Government ministers next week once it has 1,000 names on it, comes just as the Conservative Party unveiled proposals to curb Scottish influence in parliament.

Today David Cameron is allowing William Hague to reveal a plan to introduce a new 'committee stage' for legislation concerning only England and Wales, in which only MPs representing those nations could vote.

Mr Walker, who launched his Worcester petition last Friday, said: "The response was absolutely phenomenal, we've never had a situation where we walked up to people randomly and so many have wanted to sign it.

"I remember doing petitions on issues like saving the post office network and even then you'd get two out of three people walk on by - with this people's eyes just lit up.

"I think everyone realises this has been a problem for some time but until now it hasn't been articulated very well.

"Everybody I spoke to said 'yes, I'll sign it', within an hour we had 470 signatures, it was incredible.

"I'll be formally handing it in next week but want to get 1,000 names on it for Worcester before I do, which isn't going to be difficult."

Under the Conservative proposal, all MPs would be allowed to vote on a bill's final reading but only legislation approved by the new 'grand committee' would reach that stage, providing a veto along the way.

However, the suggestion does fall short of an outright ban on Scottish MPs voting on English-only laws as urged by some Tories.

Mr Hague will today call it "a fundamental issue of fairness", saying the new powers would allow English and Welsh MPs to vote on tax and welfare levels, the same as Holyrood does in Scotland.

* The Worcester petition will be in the city's High Street again this Friday.