Meeting of the Parliament 16 September 2015
In the week of the one-year anniversary of the referendum, it is understandable that a lot of the focus in today’s debate will be on reflecting on that historic day last year. Many column inches have already been filled on that this week, and I am sure that more words will be written about it before the week is out. It is also understandable that many people may wish to reflect today on their personal experiences. The day of the vote—18 September—was a truly remarkable one in Scotland’s history, and it will live long in everyone’s memory.
However, it is important that we use the opportunity to look forward. Last year, the voice of the majority of Scotland was clear, and we all need to accept the result, which was to stay as part of the United Kingdom. However, it was also clear that people wanted politics and democracy to change.
The Smith commission and, from that, the Scotland Bill are to be vehicles to deliver that change, although I caution that they are not the only vehicles. The change will be achieved if we—politicians from across all the parties—change the way we think about politics and how it is delivered. As our amendment states, devolution is not about concentrating powers in the Scottish Parliament; it must be about empowering our communities and local authorities.
I like the title of the debate, which promises more than the motion does—democracy and devolution. It is not just about securing new powers; it is also about how we use those new powers. Labour’s amendment highlights the work programme as an example of how we can use new responsibilities to gain more effective results. Labour believes that local communities and organisations are best placed to deliver that programme, and we encourage the Scottish Government to look at that way of delivering.
Similarly, we must push for the extension of the powers over the Crown Estate. Those powers should then be maximised to make local decision making meaningful.
In giving evidence to the Devolution (Further Powers) Committee, Dave Moxham of the STUC said:
“it is not enough for Parliament to have a relationship with existing civil society organisations and then think that it has done its job. That links in with the idea that we and others have raised about citizen juries and other ways of creating a representative democracy”.—[Official Report, Devolution (Further Powers) Committee, 15 January 2015; c 37.]
As the cabinet secretary said, the referendum was a great example of civic participation. We should not miss the opportunities to use the Scotland Bill to build on that.
However, let me be clear. As things stand, the Scotland Bill does not meet our expectations. It needs to be stronger and more reflective of the agreement from the Smith commission. That it is not is disappointing, and I hope that the Conservatives will address that in their speeches. Although I agree with much of their amendment, it glides over the reasonable concerns that exist about the Scotland Bill; we did have cross-party consensus on the Devolution (Further Powers) Committee.
We are left with two options as a result. One is to continually complain about the bill and undermine what has been achieved. More constructively, we could propose changes and not just enact the Smith commission proposals in full, but possibly go further.
I make it clear that Labour is committed to ensuring that the Parliament becomes one of the strongest devolved legislatures in the world. We want new powers to be delivered and we will do all that we can to make that happen. We have a record of bringing powers to the Parliament when we have believed that that is in the best interests of the Scottish people. Like other members, we have no interest in seeing the Scotland Bill fail. We want to take this opportunity to deliver the modern devolved Parliament that the cross-party Smith commission set out the blueprint for.
To make that progress we must return to the consensus that was built around the Smith commission. I welcome John Swinney’s statement that the Parliament should be united on that. It will take effort from all sides, particularly the two Governments. One of those Governments almost immediately began talking down the agreement as soon as it signed up to it and the other has seemingly closed shop and refused so far to accept amendments from other parties. It is time to put those agendas aside and work together. If the Governments truly want the Scotland Bill to succeed, they need to strengthen it. I hope that Conservative members will join us and lobby their counterparts in Westminster—in either house—to ensure that reasonable and proportionate amendments are accepted when the bill returns to the House of Commons following the conference recess.
Today the Labour Party has unveiled new amendments to the Scotland Bill, which would devolve a further £5 billion of revenue, along with extended powers over welfare to design a new social security system in Scotland. MSPs would be in greater control than ever of raising money that we are to spend.