Chamber
Meeting of the Parliament 10 December 2014
10 Dec 2014 · S4 · Meeting of the Parliament
Item of business
Smith Commission
Not at this time.
Let us look at the timetable for the transfer of powers. We know that the draft clauses that flesh out the heads of agreement will be produced by 25 January, meeting the next phase of our commitment to the people of Scotland.
I am pleased that the Secretary of State for Scotland has already brought together a team of leading officials in the Scotland Office, Her Majesty’s Treasury, the Department for Work and Pensions and the Cabinet Office. Their task is now to work together to ensure that we get a representative, coherent piece of legislation that delivers. I hope that everyone in the chamber will also welcome and acknowledge that that team will remain in place after the general election to ensure that the plans move forward into law, no matter the result in May.
I, for one, add my support to ensuring that, where possible, the reforms that we have backed are devolved as soon as is practicably possible. In particular, given that 16 and 17-year-olds in Scotland have caught the democratic bug, I want to see them in the polling booths again in 17 months’ time.
In the same item of business
The Deputy Presiding Officer (John Scott)
Con
The next item of business is a debate on motion S4M-11830, in the name of Ruth Davidson, on the Smith commission. 14:40
Ruth Davidson (Glasgow) (Con)
Con
The Smith commission process was a remarkable feat of fast-forward constitutional reform. As this Parliament debates the commission’s verdict for the first t...
Stewart Stevenson (Banffshire and Buchan Coast) (SNP)
SNP
Will the member give way?
John Mason (Glasgow Shettleston) (SNP)
SNP
Will the member give way?
Ruth Davidson
Con
If the two gentlemen can decide between themselves, I will give way to one.
Stewart Stevenson
SNP
Like the member, I very much welcome the new powers for this Parliament. Does she assert that we will be more powerful than the provinces of Canada, the stat...
The Deputy Presiding Officer
Con
Your point is?
Stewart Stevenson
SNP
Can the member tell us of any tax in any of those places that we cannot assert? She will not have to look very far.
Ruth Davidson
Con
I welcome the member’s welcome for the Smith commission powers and tell him that I do not need to assert anything. As I said on Thursday during First Ministe...
Rob Gibson (Caithness, Sutherland and Ross) (SNP)
SNP
Will the member give way?
Ruth Davidson
Con
Not at this time. Let us look at the timetable for the transfer of powers. We know that the draft clauses that flesh out the heads of agreement will be prod...
The Deputy First Minister and Cabinet Secretary for Finance, Constitution and Economy (John Swinney)
SNP
Will Ruth Davidson set out whether all the proposals need to be delivered in one legislative instrument or whether there is an argument to continue, as she s...
Ruth Davidson
Con
If we use the Scotland Act 2012 as our template for constitutional change, we will have a single legislative instrument—a single act—that transfers powers at...
Mark McDonald (Aberdeen Donside) (SNP)
SNP
Will Ruth Davidson give way?
Ruth Davidson
Con
Not at this time. The SNP would be unwise in the extreme to place roadblocks in the way of that development or to create straw men to knock down. The SNP’s...
Jim Eadie (Edinburgh Southern) (SNP)
SNP
Will Ruth Davidson give way?
Ruth Davidson
Con
I have a long list and I am still going, so I will not give way at this point. The devolution of the work programme—the largest welfare-to-work programme in...
Mark McDonald
SNP
Will Ruth Davidson give way?
Ruth Davidson
Con
I look forward to any SNP MSP proving me wrong by having the good grace to stand up and say that that package of powers is significant. That includes Mark Mc...
Mark McDonald
SNP
We have made it quite clear that we welcome new powers coming to this Parliament, but Ruth Davidson must accept that a range of organisations from civic Scot...
Ruth Davidson
Con
I reject that entirely. The Smith commission took submissions from people right across the land. For example, it took a submission from the Institute of Char...
Mike MacKenzie (Highlands and Islands) (SNP)
SNP
Will the member take an intervention?
Ruth Davidson
Con
I want to make progress. From Labour and the SNP, for example, we already hear calls to increase income taxation. That will be their choice and one that the...
The Deputy First Minister and Cabinet Secretary for Finance, Constitution and Economy (John Swinney)
SNP
I seem to have offended Ruth Davidson in the formulation of the Government’s amendment and in my comments on this subject. However, I find it rather strange ...
Gavin Brown (Lothian) (Con)
Con
Will the cabinet secretary give way?
John Swinney
SNP
Perhaps Mr Brown will explain why the Conservatives are not prepared to get on with it.
Gavin Brown
Con
Let us just assume for a moment that APD was devolved tomorrow. What would the cabinet secretary do with it?
John Swinney
SNP
Let us go back to the white paper, which said that we would halve APD. We would halve it over time before 2020 and then move to abolish it. That is taking th...
Dennis Robertson (Aberdeenshire West) (SNP)
SNP
Is the cabinet secretary as disappointed as I am to have heard that Iain Duncan Smith has already said that he is not prepared to change his mind with regard...
John Swinney
SNP
That is a point to be regretted. However, the fact that the Secretary of State for Scotland made it clear in his meeting with the First Minister last Thursda...