Meeting of the Parliament 19 February 2025
I am sorry, but I want to make progress.
The Government’s motion not only prejudges the consultation; perhaps ironically, it prejudges the work of the Constitution, Europe, External Affairs and Culture Committee and the evidence that it will take on the review. If the Scottish Government’s show today is not performative and it really wants to respect the role of the Scottish Parliament, surely the Deputy First Minister should be awaiting with interest the findings of a Scottish Parliament committee.
It is regrettable that the Deputy First Minister has criticised the new UK Government’s review and, indeed, Scottish Labour’s position, and that she has largely ignored the very welcome commitments that it has given and the change of circumstances. Rachael Hamilton said that nothing changed after the last debate. In fact, a lot has changed since then. The truth is that there have been a number of substantial and important steps forward since we previously debated the issue, in October 2023. [Interruption.] First and most important—I say this to Stephen Kerr—we no longer have a Conservative Government. Instead, we have a new UK Labour Government that is committed to respecting devolution and resetting the relationship with the devolved Governments.
I remind members that the motion referred to by the Deputy First Minister called on the UK Government
“to develop a more consensual means of preserving common standards and safeguards across the UK that does not undermine devolution”.