Meeting of the Parliament (Hybrid) 07 October 2020
As we have heard, the UK bill would impose a series of rules on trade within the UK, following the end of the transition period with the EU on 31 December and a likely cliff-edge Brexit. We, in Scotland, did not vote for that situation, but on Brexit, as on everything else, our views are ignored and our votes simply disregarded by the UK.
I do not know why the Tory front-bench members are smirking.
The rules that are to be imposed by the UK Government would mean, for example, that state aid powers concerning devolved areas would be taken away to London; that London would take control of key devolved spending powers; and that there would inevitably be a race to the bottom in, for example, food and environmental standards. It is quite clear that public policy protections in the bill have been drawn very narrowly and are very limited in scope, and they would not be sufficient to keep out of Scotland cheap imported chlorinated chicken and hormone-injected beef.
In evidence to the Culture, Tourism, Europe and External Affairs Committee on 24 September, Professor Catherine Barnard said:
“the mutual recognition principle will drive a coach and horses through any attempts by the Scottish Government to reflect local preferences for not having chlorinated chicken”.
At the same meeting, Professor Michael Dougan, of the University of Liverpool, said:
“It means that the market forces that are unleashed by the principle of mutual recognition will not be operating in a neutral manner among England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. The sheer market size of England means that market forces will lead English standards to be prevalent.”—[Official Report, Culture, Tourism, Europe and External Affairs Committee, 24 September 2020; c 23-24.]
There we have it: an internal market of Jonah and the whale, with none of the protections from which we currently benefit as a result of being part of the EU single market of 500 million people.
The UK Tory Government asks us to trust it not to change the status quo and to consult with us, even though there is no requirement in the bill to do so. That is the same UK Tory Government that has such regard for our Scottish Government and Scottish Parliament that it scrapped the UK budget statement by Twitter; hid important information about possible food shortages and its state aid power grab from the Scottish Government; and now proposes to break international law and renege on commitments that were given under treaty to our international partners.
The bill represents an unprecedented attack on devolution. The people of Scotland joined together to ensure that we saw our Scottish Parliament reconvened in 1999, and no UK Tory Government is going to rewrite our history.
In conclusion, I say to the Tories that we see you. The people of Scotland see you, for there is no respect agenda and no trust in this union, and we are certainly not feeling much love any more. Rather, there is an increasingly hostile environment for Scotland in the union. The STUC said:
“Should the UK Government proceed with the Bill, against the wishes of the Scottish Parliament it makes the case for a second independence referendum unanswerable.”
I agree entirely with that statement. It is only with independence that we can take our own decisions and determine our own future. Surely, that is the better path for Scotland.
17:38