Scotland: Draft Legislation — House of Lords, 2015-01-22
Topic: Mixed Topics
James Wallace (Liberal Democrats, Centre to centre-left): My Lords, with the permission of the House I will repeat a Statement made by my right honourable friend the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Scotland in the House of Commons. The Statement is as follows "With permission, Mr Speaker, I wish to make a statement to the House about the further devolution process in Scotland and the publication of draft clauses to implement the Smith commission agreement. The draft clauses published today deliver a substantial package of new powers to the Scottish Parliament. We are publishing ahead of the Burns Night deadline, demonstrating this Government’s commitment to honouring the vow made to the people of Scotland during the referendum, and meeting the timetable we set out during the referendum to deliver further powers to Scotland. The referendum on independence held on 18 September 2014 saw Scotland vote decisively to remain within our United Kingdom family of nations, retaining the strength, security and stability of being part of the UK. But the Scottish people did not vote for no change. During the referendum campaign the Prime Minister, the Deputy Prime Minister and the leader of the Opposition made a joint commitment to deliver more powers to the Scottish Parliament. The Smith commission, chaired by Lord Smith of Kelvin, was the result of that commitment. All five main parties in Scotland came to the table and reached agreement on the proposals for further devolution to Scotland within the United Kingdom. The Government welcomed the fact that this was the first time that all of Scotland’s main parties have taken part in a process to decide the future of devolution, and this landmark agreement was signed by all five parties. I am grateful to Lord Smith and the members of the commission for their work The commission’s heads of agreement were published on 27 November and the Government committed to bringing forward draft clauses to implement the agreement by Burns Night, 25 January. This was a challenging timetable, but by publishing a Command Paper and draft clauses today I am pleased to say that the Government have delivered on their commitment in advance of that deadline The clauses published today will make it possible to quickly translate the Smith commission agreement into law at the beginning of the next Parliament. The draft clauses provide for an already powerful Scottish Parliament to become further empowered and more accountable to those who elect it. As a result, the Scottish Parliament will become one of the most powerful devolved Parliaments in the world I will begin with the constitutional measures. The biggest transfer of powers to the Scottish Parliament and Scottish Minsters since the start of devolution comes with greater flexibility for the Scottish Parliament and the Scottish Government to manage their own arrangements, with statutory recognition of the enduring place of a Scottish Parliament in the UK’s constitutional arrangements. Our commitment to the process has already been evidenced by the steps the Government have taken to enable the Scottish Parliament to extend the franchise to 16 and 17 year-olds in time for the 2016 Scottish Parliament elections, with an order now laid before both Parliaments Turning to the fiscal framework, the package gives greater financial responsibility to the Scottish Parliament with an updated fiscal framework for Scotland that is consistent with the overall UK fiscal framework. As the Smith commission agreement set out, the new fiscal framework will be agreed and implemented jointly by the UK Government and the Scottish Government through the Joint Exchequer Committee, with suitable engagement with both the UK and Scottish Parliaments For the first time, more than 50% of the money spent by the Scottish Parliament will be funded by the Scottish Parliament. This is an important step, which builds on the measures brought forward by this Government in the Scotland Act 2012 and further increases the financial accountability of the Scottish Parliament to the people of Scotland. Under the tax clauses Scotland will receive extensive new tax powers without losing the essential elements of our unified tax system that support the single market and make the United Kingdom such an attractive place to do business. The Scottish Parliament will be given the power to set the rates of income tax and the thresholds at which these are paid for the non-savings and non-dividend income of Scottish taxpayers. This is the most significant tax in Scotland and a powerful redistributive tool The first 10 percentage points of the standard rate and the first 2.5 percentage points of the reduced rate of value added tax will be assigned to the Scottish Government—which means the Scottish Government will retain half the VAT revenue generated in Scotland. The clauses also give the Scottish Parliament the power to charge a tax on air passengers departing from Scottish airports and on commercial exploitation of aggregates in Scotland Turning to the welfare clauses, these provide for key welfare measures to be designed by and delivered in Scotland. The Scottish Government will be responsible for a number of benefits, including those for disabled people and carers. Issues relating to long-term unemployment will be tackled with specific consideration of local circumstances. As set out by the Smith commission, universal credit will remain reserved but the Scottish Government will have certain flexibilities, including the power to vary the housing cost element. Scotland will also continue to share the benefits and strengths of the UK-wide system for pensions, labour market benefits and Jobcentre Plus Additional clauses build on the already significant powers of the Scottish Parliament and Government in a range of other policy areas. To give a few examples, there are new powers for the licensing of onshore oil and gas extraction, powers to introduce gender quotas in respect of public bodies in Scotland, and powers to police the railways. Together, these clauses give greater responsibility for more decisions affecting Scotland to be made in the Scottish Parliament and paid for by revenue raised by the Scottish Parliament Later today, ministerial colleagues will host an event in Edinburgh to present the Command Paper and clauses to representatives of civic Scotland. This will signal the next phase in the work. The clauses are presented today in draft. They will require further preparation to make them ready for introduction in a Scotland Bill in the next Queen’s Speech, and it has been made clear that this will be taken forward by whoever leads the Government after the next general election To get the clauses fully ready the Government wish to engage with experts from civic Scotland, and we are committed to engaging with the Scottish Government and Her Majesty’s Opposition ahead of finalising the clauses for introduction. Questions of commencement and implementation will need to be answered, and in order to do this we will need to understand what the Scottish Government intend to do with the new powers It will be necessary for the fiscal framework to be agreed alongside the introduction of the Scotland Bill, and of course Lord Smith made further observations to which we need to pay heed. In some areas he recommends further devolution from the Scottish Parliament to local authorities in Scotland. He also recommended better working between the two Governments and the two Parliaments The Command Paper and draft clauses provide for a more responsible and accountable Scottish Parliament inside a strong United Kingdom. By publishing ahead of time, the Government are demonstrating that they are meeting their guarantee to the people of Scotland. The clauses ensure a set of proposals that do not cause detriment to the UK as a whole or any of its constituent parts. The Government remain committed to ensuring that Scotland and the whole of the United Kingdom continue to prosper from our single domestic market, our social union and the strength that comes from the pooling and sharing of risks People in Scotland made it clear that they want to keep the advantages of a UK pound, UK pensions, UK Armed Forces and a strong UK voice in the world. The clauses allow that to happen. This is what Scotland voted for. It is what all parties in the Smith commission process signed up to. And it is what we are delivering today. I commend this Statement to the House."