Meeting of the Parliament 25 November 2015
I say to Mr Johnstone that the truth is that we lost a vote, as one or two colleagues on the far benches will well remember. Back in 2005, lots of Labour colleagues were very exercised—and rightly so—by the European Commission’s insistence on the tendering process. After a pretty heated debate that I remember particularly well and which I reread the other night—I see a number of members commenting—we lost the vote. I commend that example to the minister of the day and suggest that it is not a bad thing now and then to lose a vote because of one’s own back benches. I know that we have not seen much of that of late, but it certainly keeps the Government very honest.
What happened as a result of that debate was that the minister of the day spent an awful time in Brussels. The commissioner, who was a very amiable French gentleman by the name of Barrot—not the type that one might wheel—spent a lot of time saying in very clear English that this was what had to happen. The truth is that, no matter what legal advice we might come up with, the European Commission expects these services to be tendered. The position then was exactly the same as it is now and on that point I agree entirely with Derek Mackay.
Of course, there is another point that I might take slight issue with Derek Mackay on—and in that respect the role reversal is, if I may say so, fairly entertaining. In fairness, I should say that I mean not Mr Mackay but a number of others, some of whom are still in the chamber.