Hansard

The Deputy Presiding Officer (John Scott) Con

The next item of business is a debate on motion S4M-02625, in the name of Bruce Crawford, on the Scotland Bill, which is United Kingdom legislation. I invite...

The Cabinet Secretary for Parliamentary Business and Government Strategy (Bruce Crawford) SNP

The Scottish Government is today inviting the Parliament to consent to the Scotland Bill, which was introduced into the UK Parliament on 30 November 2010. Th...

James Kelly (Rutherglen) (Lab) Lab

Can the cabinet secretary remind us of the six proposals that the Government made after the last election and tell us how many of them have been included in ...

Bruce Crawford SNP

Every party in the chamber has publicly said that Scotland should be granted more powers than are currently in the bill. However, we live in pretty strange t...

David McLetchie (Lothian) (Con) Con

How many proposals?

Bruce Crawford SNP

I have just dealt with that point. Those proposals included a role for this Parliament in commencing the finance provisions of the bill as well as the remova...

The Cabinet Secretary for Education and Lifelong Learning (Michael Russell) SNP

Nae point.

Bruce Crawford SNP

Yes, there is nae point.Following negotiations between the Governments, a number of legislative and non-legislative measures have now been agreed to improve ...

Willie Rennie (Mid Scotland and Fife) (LD) LD

The minister did not mention alcohol duty. Is that because he is embarrassed by the fact that he did not present the proposals until after the committee had ...

Bruce Crawford SNP

I will take no lectures from anybody who is associated with the UK Government on issues to do with alcohol. The member is following us everywhere as far as t...

James Kelly (Rutherglen) (Lab) Lab

I welcome the opportunity to take part in this afternoon’s debate on the Scotland Bill. I confirm that the Labour Party will support the motion at decision t...

John Mason (Glasgow Shettleston) (SNP) SNP

Mr Kelly talks about more responsibility, but does he believe that the bill provides the right level of responsibility, or does he think that we should have ...

James Kelly Lab

What struck me from our discussions in the Scotland Bill Committee on having more powers over income tax and how that would operate is that, as the SNP gets ...

Bruce Crawford SNP

Given what he says, will the member explain how, in Stirling Council, in my constituency, the Labour Party, in conjunction with the Tories, was able to put f...

James Kelly Lab

Make no mistake, Mr Crawford—the SNP Government is passing on £658 million of cuts to local councils. We will remind the SNP of that from now until polling d...

David McLetchie (Lothian) (Con) Con

Like James Kelly, I commend Linda Fabiani for her convenership of the Scotland Bill Committee. I very much enjoyed my participation in it, as I enjoyed my pa...

Linda Fabiani (East Kilbride) (SNP) SNP

It is interesting that we have just heard two representatives of the anti-independence parties, but they have not said anything yet about what they would wis...

Willie Rennie LD

I note all the things that the member has said, but I think that she fails to understand the point. We made a submission to the commission as part of a proce...

Linda Fabiani SNP

Can I presume that it is the same with broadcasting—the Lib Dem Steel commission wanted greater accountability for that—and excise duty? In the Lib Dem submi...

Neil Findlay (Lothian) (Lab) Lab

The Calman commission was established by the then Labour leader Wendy Alexander prior to the 2011 election, and the subsequent Scotland Bill that emerged fro...

Joan McAlpine (South Scotland) (SNP) SNP

Will the member take an intervention?

Neil Findlay Lab

Not at the moment.I state openly that I hope that the Scotland Bill will enable a move forward to genuinely progressive taxation that seeks to redistribute t...

Joan McAlpine SNP

Will the member take an intervention now?

Neil Findlay Lab

I will not take one now, because you are mentioned later in my speech, so you will probably want to come in then.The First Minister wanted powers over excise...

Joan McAlpine SNP

You expressed your concern about welfare. I think that this Parliament is united—certainly Labour and the SNP are united—in agreement that the welfare change...

The Deputy Presiding Officer (Elaine Smith) Lab

I remind all members to speak through the chair.

Neil Findlay Lab

I do not think that you are in a very strong position to argue over what you want in the Scotland Bill, since you did not want it in the first place.Of cours...

Linda Fabiani SNP

Will the member give way?

Nigel Don (Angus North and Mearns) (SNP) SNP

Will the member give way?

Neil Findlay Lab

No, thank you.We should not be surprised by the SNP’s budget day backtrack—not just on this bill, but on everything else that it wanted to ditch. Saying one ...