Meeting of the Parliament 07 October 2015
I am happy to drop the Deputy First Minister that note.
Let us take revenue borrowing, which I know from the communiqué was one of the issues that were discussed at the last meeting. Can we get an indication of where there might be agreement or disagreement? Simply hearing that that was discussed does not tell us terribly much. There may be areas of revenue volatility borrowing that are completely uncontentious to the extent that both Governments agree that they do not merit further discussion. We could then see where the difficulties are and where the challenges that need to be faced are.
If the committee and parliamentarians had some idea of where the challenges are, we would be well versed to contribute and to send suggestions to the cabinet secretary. That would get both Parliaments involved, as opposed to both Governments. I cite that as merely one example.
Where there are agreements on revenue volatility borrowing—I am sure that there must be some—can we know what those are, so that there is not simply horse trading all the way through to the end and nothing is agreed until everything is agreed? I think that the cabinet secretary referred to that. If we are negotiating and discussing on principle, I suspect that much, but not all, could be agreed up front in the same way as, in legal cases, both sides outline their arguments before they get anywhere near a judge so that, when they get in front of a judge, they discuss only the areas of contention and do not waste time on areas in which there is no dispute.
It is important for the Scottish Government to lay out some of its stall, as it has said publicly and quite clearly and loudly, from the First Minister to the Deputy First Minister and all the way down, that it will block the Scotland Bill or at least recommend that it be blocked unless the fiscal framework is fair. A press release spoke about the framework being “fair and flexible”; today, it has been said that the framework must be “fair and workable”. It is only fair to the Scottish public that we have some idea of what the Scottish Government deems to be fair. There should be some idea up front so that we do not get at the last minute the rather striking and bland statement, “We don’t like it because it isn’t fair.”
For example, what is the Scottish Government’s position on fiscal rules? Does it have any fiscal rules that it believes are required? Does it have a position on a fiscal rule regarding deficit and a fiscal rule regarding debt? Does it accept the committee’s recommendation that, once agreed, those rules should be put into statute? The committee discovered that, since 2010, only one fiscal rule has not been put into statute. Does the Scottish Government accept that recommendation?