My Lords, I, too, share many of the concerns raised by the noble Lord, Lord Forsyth. We have reached a point where the House is being asked to approve that certain taxes and welfare measures should be devolved, but nothing is being said about the framework in which they are to be operated. I do not accept the proposition put forward by the noble Lord, Lord Hope, that we can divorce the two, nor do I accept that the precedent of the previous Scotland Act of leaving certain details to be settled after this stage is appropriate. What is at stake are billions and billions of pounds and the distribution of those between the different parts of the United Kingdom.
We have been told nothing about two vitally important elements of the fiscal agreement: the method for adjusting the Barnett formula to take account of the new distribution of taxes and the regime for borrowing and debt. We know that there is a dispute over two different methods of adjusting the block grant. Noble Lords will be pleased to know that I am not going to attempt to explain those now, but no Minister in this House or the other place has attempted to explain what the two approaches are and the merits of each. Despite that, and contrary to the assurances given, the completion of Committee stage has been scheduled to proceed. It is extraordinary that a major change in constitutional arrangements, both political and financial, is being sought without either House having a chance to see the detail of what is proposed or, importantly, to take a view on its effectiveness or fairness. It has been pointed out that this is not simply a bilateral matter between Scottish and UK Ministers: it has implications for the whole country.
The other place may be content to allow all this to glide by unremarked, but I believe that this House has higher standards. It has always prided itself on ensuring that matters of constitutional significance are properly scrutinised. At the moment, that is not happening.
If an agreement is reached in the next few days, even though it has been a case of “Mañana, mañana” so far, the Government need quickly to come up with a process that allows the Bill to be scrutinised before final assent is given to it. For example, if this is effectively delayed until Report, will the rules of Report be modified to adopt the rules of Committee—for example, with noble Lords being able to speak a second time? That has been done before, I think in the case of a financial services Bill. Alternatively, a separate consent Motion could be provided, which is something
that the Holyrood Parliament itself intends. Something needs to be done because it is not acceptable to allow the Bill to be finalised and matters of this importance to be sorted out thereafter.