Hansard

In opening the debate on behalf of the Scottish Labour Party, I will set out its position on the necessary collaborative approach to the process for developing, agreeing and implementing both legislative and non-legislative common frameworks.

Scottish Labour believes that the work done so far on the development of common frameworks is welcome but that the lack of recent progress is worrying. It strongly agrees with the committee report’s view that common frameworks must be arrived at through agreement and not imposed, but it has yet to receive assurances that Boris Johnson’s Government will approach the development of such frameworks in that way. That is particularly worrying given the scope that the UK Parliament’s European Union (Withdrawal) Bill gives the UK Government to limit the transfer of devolved powers from the EU to Holyrood—and also given Mr Johnson’s recent attempts to undermine democracy.

The Royal Society of Edinburgh has stated:

“The UK Government has identified 160 policy areas of EU law that intersect with devolved competences.”

It went on to say:

“Reports, including those from the House of Commons Public Administration and Constitutional Affairs Committee, indicate that there is a lack of coherence and coordination at UK Government level in relation to how Common Frameworks should be established, operated and monitored. The Public Administration and Constitutional Affairs Committee has remarked that the current mechanisms for intergovernmental relations in the UK are not fit for purpose.”

It is clear that a more robust and transparent mechanism to facilitate intergovernmental working and progress on common frameworks, in a way that respects the UK’s devolution settlements, is required. Scottish Labour therefore supports the committee’s call for the current review of intergovernmental relations to be undertaken urgently.

Parliament and stakeholders must have a role in contributing to and scrutinising common frameworks. Particularly given the possibility that some frameworks will be created without legislation, we agree that Parliament should have a formal role in their development and implementation. The UK and devolved Governments already have experience of managing policy divergence within the requirements of the EU internal market, underpinned by principles such as subsidiarity and proportionality.

The Brexit and environment academics provided the committee with a range of options for how greater or lesser policy flexibility could be provided to enable individual jurisdictions to adopt their own policies while still supporting a common UK approach to its internal market. Those options included exclusive power on common positions resting with UK authorities, which would represent a rolling back of devolution. That is not the way to go. Labour wants to see more devolution, not less.

Other options included a legal arrangement whereby the devolved authorities would contribute to, and possibly even have a veto over, the common position but would be obliged to implement it once it was in place, which is similar to the UK’s current relationship with the European Union. A political agreement could be reached to follow the common position, meaning that the legal competences of the devolved authorities might not have to be restricted. The common position could be merely a recommendation, with no political or legal fetters on the devolved authorities.

The Parliament requires clarification from the Scottish Government on which of those approaches it is adopting and where it is willing to diverge from the UK Government to ensure that EU principles further to the environmental principles are enshrined in Scottish law. Scottish Environment LINK points out that 80 per cent of our environmental protections in the UK stem from EU law and institutions. It fears that the loss of common EU standards as a result of the UK exit from the EU could compromise the transition of Scotland and the UK to a low-carbon sustainable society, through a race to the bottom on environmental standards.

A collaborative joint approach that respects the devolution settlement in the UK is needed to ensure that environmental standards are protected and enhanced. Ambitious common environmental standards would ensure that there is no drive towards environmentally damaging competitive deregulation in any part of the United Kingdom. Labour believes that, whether in relation to the environment or any other policy area, frameworks, where required, should be based on existing EU legislation, which should act as a common baseline on top of which individual countries can pursue more ambitious standards if they wish.

In “Scotland’s Role in the Development of Future UK Trade Arrangements: A Discussion Paper”, the Scottish Government states that the UK analysis of the 111 policy areas that may be subject to common frameworks

“was compiled without consulting the Scottish Government and does not reflect an agreed position.”

That is surely an unacceptable position for this Parliament. Despite commitments from the UK and Scottish Governments that there is a role for Parliament to scrutinise common frameworks, that has not yet been visible in the approach that has been adopted by the joint ministerial committee.

Legislative common frameworks will be subject to parliamentary scrutiny through the usual legislative procedures, which provide for greater transparency and stakeholder engagement.