The Bill appears to invite a clutch of ironic metaphors. In moving the Bill at Second Reading in the House of Commons, the Prime Minister drew inspiration from Adam Smith’s invisible hand but, by contrast, the Bill delivers a clunking great fist, and the Prime Minister’s oven-ready deal is at best not even half baked. The Government assert that substantial powers are coming to the devolved Administrations and, on the surface, that is true. However, the lack of reference to common frameworks, which we have debated, and the subordination of the proposed office of the internal market, on which previous amendments have focused, to the Competition and Markets Authority, all points to a centralising agenda. The state aid and financial powers clauses of the Bill—which, as the noble and learned Lord, Lord Thomas, said, do not appear relevant to the Bill’s stated purpose of regulating the internal market—raise serious questions, providing sweeping powers for the UK Government to intervene directly on a wide range of policy areas without even consulting the devolved Administrations, let alone securing consent and agreement.
At a time when relations between the UK Government and the devolved Administrations are at rock bottom, and with elections for the Scottish Parliament and the Welsh Senedd only six months away, this is absurdly
provocative and, frankly, foolhardy. Following the shambolic communication of the emerging lockdown in England over the weekend, confusion reigns today over furlough provision in Scotland. On the one hand, the furlough extension is UK-wide, which is welcome. On the other, it appears that if Scotland goes into lockdown at a later date, comparable support to that being provided in England is not assured. Scottish Conservative leader, Douglas Ross MP, is at odds with the Government over this. It raises the question of whether the Government are trying to force Scotland into a similar lockdown at the same time as England, not because the measures currently being applied north of the border are not working—it is too early to judge that—but just to secure funding for any lockdown. That is not the way to promote trust or make rational, balanced and objective decisions.
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The UK Government have a strong footprint in Scotland, entirely consistent with the devolution settlement. I have to say that they do a poor job of making the people of Scotland aware of this. For all the plaudits for the First Minister’s communication skills, compared with the abysmal performance of the Prime Minister, the Scottish economy would, frankly, have collapsed without the billions of pounds of support provided to individuals and businesses by the UK Treasury since Covid-19 hit us. Statutory redundancy and unemployment benefits will sadly see costs rising to the UK Treasury, including for those occurring in Scotland.
The Scottish Government have neither the competence nor the confidence to take on the social security powers devolved. They have failed our education system and their state aid interventions have been disastrous. As such, I think the Committee can see that I do not support the present Scottish Government; in 14 years, they have taken Scotland backwards and pursued a deeply divisive obsession with independence. Nevertheless, devolution means that we have the right to make our own mistakes, and the people of Scotland should hold our elected representatives to account for their decisions or lack of them.
I welcome partnership between the UK and Scottish Governments, and I deeply regret the bad blood between them, from which the people of Scotland are the losers. We still need a strong partnership for recovery, not just from Covid-19 but the disruption of Brexit. The Government at Westminster always have the power to intervene in any part of the UK, so to take such sweeping powers without adequate explanation or justification arouses further suspicion and further damages trust.
The question one has to ask is: when did this come into the Bill? It seems to have been a late addition. It looks as if it has been inspired by Dominic Cummings. We have a Scottish Conservative leader, Douglas Ross, desperately trying to reconnect the Tory party with Scotland and at odds with his own Government, and this Bill does not help him. This is especially so when his near neighbour, my local MP, Andrew Bowie, says that
“this Bill … is just the start. The UK Government is back in Scotland. Get used to it.”
How absurd: the Government never left Scotland, and I do not want them to. I want rid of this Government, who are sowing the seeds of their own destruction.
This Bill is not good for Scotland or the UK. These powers should be removed, and we should seek a partnership in which, where the UK Government wish to put resources into the devolved areas and territories, they do so with the support and consent of the devolved Governments, either by funding those programmes in addition to the Barnett formula or by agreeing to do it jointly, as happened with the city deals. These have been remarkably successful and are sowing the seeds for development in research, economic future planning and a lot of co-operation between the public and private sectors. It can be done well or it can be done badly but, in relation to these powers, it would be better if it was not done at all.