Meeting of the Parliament 24 September 2019
Much as I would love to agree with Murdo Fraser, I have to tell him that the forces of conservatism got in our way. The Conservatives were desperate to keep the House of Lords and stop voting reform—and any other kind of reform. If only they had listened to Mr Fraser, we may have got a little bit further along the path.
The Royal Society of Edinburgh has made it clear that there is a constructive development of those ideas around federalism. People should take hope that a much more positive future is available, compared to the divisions of the current debate or simply returning to the Britain of the past.
Federalism is not just for Brexit. We need to make changes for the long term about how Britain makes decisions in areas of common interest, but I recognise that there is still a long way to go.
I will give an example that relates to the UK. I look back to the publication of the UK industrial strategy in 2017, which cut across devolved areas. I would have hoped that such a strategy would have been prepared and agreed between the Administrations in advance of its publication, rather than being imposed by the UK Government, but it was not. An industrial strategy that linked the UK’s single market and its international trade with the skills and economic development roles of the devolved Governments would have been stronger, so that is a mark off for the UK.
On framework agreements, I think back to the passage of the Withdrawal from the European Union (Legal Continuity) (Scotland) Bill, which contained a section that was strongly focused on the future frameworks. Colleagues of mine, including Tavish Scott, lodged amendments to set up a federal structure for agreement. My colleagues were adamant that we needed to make those changes. We said that if all three other Administrations objected strongly to an approach that the Scottish Government was taking, it should be harder for the Scottish ministers to get their plans through. Through that structure, we would be able to protect the workings of the UK single market against what would be, in effect, unilateral action by a single Administration. Our proposal, which represented a federal idea of co-operation, contrasted with the other proposals, which sought to give control of such matters entirely to UK ministers. Of course, the Scottish Government objected, saying, “It surely can’t be right.” It wanted any changes to be subject to agreement by the Scottish ministers.
When the Scottish Government talks about the involvement of the Scottish Government and its agreeing to things, as Mike Russell did earlier, I hear that as a veto. In areas of common interest, I do not think that we want some kind of veto to be applied. I would call our proposals a form of qualified majority voting. They would foster an atmosphere of co-operation.
There is a common set of standards and rules across the UK that enables businesses to expand across the UK without worrying that they have entered a separate jurisdiction. I have previously made the point that, to be successful, people in a federal system need to know that everyone has an eye on and a care for the success of the whole. That is where I must keep up the work on the arguments for a federal United Kingdom.
I repeat what I have said many times to SNP members. If they attack those who want to cut the UK off from the EU, and all the business and social opportunities that it offers, they should not be surprised when people such as me question their view that their plans to do the same to Scotland and the rest of the UK will not be as damaging. The UK Government might not want a federal UK, but nor does the SNP Government. We can have a different, better future for Scotland as part of a reformed United Kingdom. Such a future will be better for our prosperity and wellbeing. The committee’s report and its recommendations make a strong case for that.