Meeting of the Parliament 10 December 2014
The Smith commission process was a remarkable feat of fast-forward constitutional reform. As this Parliament debates the commission’s verdict for the first time today, let me state the facts.
The proposals that were unveiled by Lord Smith, coming on top of those that were introduced by the Calman commission, will create in Scotland one of the most powerful Parliaments of its kind anywhere in the world. Those powers will ensure that real responsibility exists for the way in which money is both spent and raised; they will give the Scottish Government real choice over taxation and welfare; and they will make ministers accountable for their decisions. The powers will end the tired old grievance politics that have dominated our debates for too long; instead, they will force our Government to think about the taxpayers and businesses whose efforts pay their bills. Lord Smith and all the party nominees are to be congratulated on reaching that deal, which will secure the foundations for a more powerful and responsible Parliament—a Parliament that does not just spend tens of billions of pounds of hard-earned money but has to think about where that money comes from: the taxpayer.
More decisions will be made in Scotland, but we also keep the crucial binding elements of the union: the state pension, the single market and the shared currency. We keep those because the people of this nation instructed us to do so. I have said before in this chamber and I say again now that the only fixed constitutional settlement on the ballot in September was independence, and it was expressly rejected by the voters of this country. Now, under Smith, we will be able to choose whether to raise taxes or cut them and whether to spend more on welfare, transport or anything else. There are big decisions to be made on fracking, on whether to lower the voting age and on the tax that we pay at our airports—those issues are all to be devolved. We know that it will take time for the reforms to come into practice, but what surely cannot now be doubted is the political will to bring them in.