Meeting of the Parliament (Hybrid) 05 October 2021
I have to ask myself whether this debate is the best use of parliamentary time. We have taken part in this debate, which was called by the Scottish Government, because of two amendments that it claims fall within the Scottish Parliament’s legislative competence. They are amendments to a bill that the Scottish Parliament has already given legislative consent to. A debate is taking place because there is a dispute between the UK Government and the Scottish Government about both amendments. The UK Government does not consider that they fall within devolved competence and, as such, it has not sought consent from the Scottish Parliament. The Scottish Government’s view is that the two amendments fall within the legislative competence of the Scottish Parliament. That is the background.
The Net Zero, Energy and Transport Committee said in its report on the matter:
“This being ultimately a legal dispute on the dividing line between devolved and reserved competencies, the Committee is in no position to adjudicate authoritatively.”
Given the committee’s views, I am not sure why the Scottish Government has decided to use the chamber’s valuable time to debate the matter—other than that it is playing the politics of grievance.
It is disappointing to see that the UK Government and the Scottish Government have failed to engage in constructive dialogue on environmental protections and regulations. It is unacceptable that a result of that failure is the Scottish Parliament’s time being spent on further legal and constitutional wrangling, even when there is very little policy difference between the ambitions of the two Governments.
We are in the midst of an extreme climate emergency that is a direct threat to our future and that of our children, and yet here we are, in Parliament, watching the Scottish and UK Governments disagree about technicalities in a bill. Instead, they could be acknowledging that much more needs to be done by politicians to tackle the climate threat to our children’s future.
Just this weekend, at the official opening of Parliament, Her Majesty the Queen urged all of us in this chamber to tackle climate change, saying:
“There is a key role for the Scottish Parliament, as with all parliaments, to help create a better, healthier future for us all, and to engage with the people they represent, especially our young people.”
This debate does not help to create a better, healthier future for us all, and I do not think that it helps us to engage with our country’s young people. Any young person watching the debate would surely ask, “Instead of spending their time on legal and constitutional wrangling, why aren’t our politicians dedicating more time to trying to solve some of the biggest problems that we face collectively as humanity?”
To tackle the climate and nature emergencies, countries across the world need to come together and unite around common goals, and the countries of the UK are no exception to that. If we cannot work together across the UK on the issue of climate, what message are we sending to the rest of the world? I make a plea to the chamber: we all have to come here and work together to tackle the climate threat, which is the greatest threat to our children’s and grandchildren’s future.
16:46