Meeting of the Parliament 24 September 2019
I thank the Finance and Constitution Committee for the work that it carried out in producing its comprehensive report on common frameworks. I recently left the committee, so I know how much work colleagues, clerks and the various witnesses put into the report. I also thank the convener, Bruce Crawford, for the way that he has convened the committee, not just on the issue of common frameworks but generally. As Murdo Fraser said, the convener always seeks consensus and to produce reports that are underpinned by expert evidence, and that was very much the case with this report.
It has been quite an unusual day, in that events elsewhere have dominated proceedings.
As Patrick Harvie said, the circumstances in which the committee looked at common frameworks are very different from what they are now. There is no doubt, however, that it is crucial that we examine the issues. I agree with Bruce Crawford that the devolution process has become more complex over time. If we were to leave the EU—I hope that that will not be the case, but we need to accept that it is still a real possibility—there is no doubt that that complexity would increase.
A number of colleagues pointed out that of the 111 areas that have been identified that are currently covered by EU law and that would be wholly or partially devolved to the competence of the Scottish Parliament, 24 are areas where there is not currently agreement. It is crucial, therefore, that work is done to ensure that if common frameworks are put in place, they will be adequate. The committee’s role in informing Parliament on that issue has been very helpful.
Murdo Fraser and other members raised the issue of disputes and disagreements that will obviously come up when laws are passed in areas that are shared by the UK Parliament and the Scottish Parliament. When the committee visited Brussels and looked at a number of international examples, two things struck me about resolving disputes. We spoke to colleagues in Germany and Canada, and, although there were clearly big areas of political disagreement in both those countries as a result of the different levels of government that they have, they were very clear that they were able to seek resolutions where there were disagreements. The culture seemed to be that they should continue to discuss issues in order to find appropriate solutions.
The lesson that we can all learn from that—this is not just for the UK Parliament or the Scottish Parliament—is that we are perhaps a bit too confrontational in such matters. If we are to find proper resolutions to disputes on common frameworks, there needs to be some change to our political culture. On finding solutions, Willie Rennie and Neil Bibby proposed the idea of qualified majority voting, which might help. We certainly need a structure in place that everybody understands and agrees to.
One issue that will be crucial is the funding of the different areas of devolved work. Alex Rowley and Jenny Gilruth mentioned the briefing from Scottish Environment LINK that explains that 80 per cent of environmental protections stem from the EU. If that work comes to Scotland, funding arrangements need to be clear—we need to be clear where the money will come from—and they need to be fair, with no dilution of current projects.
Another feature of the debate has been the lack of progress around the JMC, and indeed the lack of progress in finding solutions to the common frameworks issue. Progress has slowed even more since Boris Johnson became Prime Minister. I appreciate that these are hectic political times, but common frameworks do not seem to have been a priority for the UK Government.
To sum up, there are important issues around common frameworks. The crucial point is that in the future there must be a clear scrutiny process that involves both Parliaments and Governments and a mechanism for resolving disputes and dealing with funding. Many such issues are touched on in the committee’s report, which is helpful in contributing to the overall debate.
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