Meeting of the Parliament 03 March 2026 [Draft]
The European Charter of Local Self-Government (Incorporation) (Scotland) Bill is about strengthening local democracy and, as such, I am pleased to be able to play my part in bringing the bill into law.
As the member in charge of the bill, it is incumbent on me to move the motion to enable the reconsideration stage to progress. Although the reconsideration stage is rarely used by the Parliament, I believe that it is a valuable process to ensure that legislation that the Parliament has decided to pass can be fixed and implemented. I will therefore be happy to move the motion in my name.
I thank the cabinet secretary and her officials for progressing the amendments. I also thank key stakeholders, such as the Convention of Scottish Local Authorities, for maintaining pressure throughout most of this parliamentary session so that progress was made. As we are getting very close to the end of the session, I am pleased that time is being made available so that we do not lose the opportunity to complete the process.
I thank Roz Thomson and the entire team of legal advisers with the non-Government bills unit who have done a phenomenal job in this session of helping members to bring forward what has been a kaleidoscope of legislative proposals.
I also thank Andy Wightman, who was the original member in charge of the bill in the previous session and the driving force behind making the policy law. This is a somewhat unique situation, in that it is, I believe, the first reconsideration stage involving a member’s bill at Holyrood. Given that Mr Wightman was not returned in session 6, it fell on me, as the additional member in charge, to bring the bill back.
I would have liked to have moved to this point earlier in the session. The Supreme Court ruling was made in 2021 and it has taken until now for there to be something approaching agreement between the Scottish and United Kingdom Governments on the scope of amendments and for reconsideration to be scheduled. My approach all along has been to hold open a space for the bill to be fixed and, although I could have moved to reconsideration earlier in this session of Parliament, the issue has, at its core, been one for Governments to resolve by mutual agreement and I am pleased that they have now reached that point.
It might be helpful in informing this final debate on the bill if I briefly highlight some of the contributions to the consultation held by the Local Government, Housing and Planning Committee.
The Law Society of Scotland observed that
“the draft amendments are complicated and illustrate the way in which provisions must be drafted to address the Supreme Court’s interpretation of the effect of section 28(7) of the Scotland Act 1998”
and acknowledged that
“the effect of the amendments is to narrow the scope of the Bill and accordingly limit its practical impact.”
COSLA focused on what the remaining policy in the bill could mean, arguing that
“The passing of the Bill to incorporate the European Charter of Self Government into law is a huge opportunity for national and Local Government to work together to improve lives across the country, and give Scotland’s communities rights that are already commonplace internationally.”
It went on to say that
“Council Leaders from across Scotland have already unanimously supported the passage of the bill and are supportive of the proposed amendments to address the Supreme Court ruling.”
With all those proposed amendments now debated and agreed to, the bill is, in my view, ready to be approved and to go forward for royal assent.
Finally, Professor Chris Himsworth summed up the overall situation well in my view, stating in his consultation response that he was
“very pleased to see that, in the light of all that has happened since the final passing of the Bill, it has been revived and is now once again on track to reach the statute book”
and that
“although the Bill offers no silver bullet, it has the capacity to contribute to better central-local relationships”.
I hope that that is something that we can all agree on, and I look forward to members’ contributions to the debate.
That the Parliament agrees that the European Charter of Local Self-Government (Incorporation) (Scotland) Bill be approved.