Meeting of the Parliament (Hybrid) 22 December 2020
I thank the Finance and Constitution Committee and the Environment, Climate Change and Land Reform Committee for their hard work in scrutinising the bill, and I thank the clerks for their work at stages 1 and 2. I also thank those who gave evidence and the Law Society of Scotland, which has been giving its expertise and advice to members.
The bill allows our legal system to keep pace with EU law in devolved areas where appropriate, which is right and fit, as well as ensuring that there continue to be guiding environmental principles in our post-Brexit landscape. Those general principles are supported by the Labour Party and we will be voting for the bill. We support creating new powers to allow the Government to keep pace with EU laws. It is particularly desirable to be able to deliver the strong environmental standards that we want to see in Scotland.
I believe that there is a real threat from the Tory Government in Westminster—and Boris’s Tories sitting across from Labour members here—and the ideological view that it takes of the free market, which will create a race to the bottom. That is a threat not just to the environment but to the whole of the United Kingdom, because so many people believe that we have to find an alternative to being dominated and run by ideologues who have no interest in people or the environment and whose only interest is a race to the bottom in order to create the greed and wealth that they stand for.
It is unforgivable that potentially no trade deal will be agreed between the UK and the EU, with just 10 days left of the transition period. That is causing unnecessary chaos and, indeed, anxiety and worry for people and businesses, which is why, even at this late stage, Scottish Labour calls on the UK Government to extend the deadline and give us the chance to get a deal that, in this Covid crisis, could at least get some kind of certainty for Scottish businesses.