Hansard

I am delighted to open the stage 3 debate on the European Charter of Local Self-Government (Incorporation) (Scotland) Bill. First, I thank all those who have contributed to the legislative process, including those who provided evidence on my draft proposal back in 2018; those who gave evidence at stage 1; the Local Government and Communities Committee, for its scrutiny of the bill; and the clerks and staff of the non-government bills unit, who provided a highly professional, impartial and very supportive role throughout the process. I also thank Christine O’Neill QC, who expertly drafted the bill.

I thank the cabinet secretary for her enthusiastic and constructive engagement during the legislative process. We have had our honest disagreements over aspects of the bill but, by working together, we have improved and clarified aspects of it.

The bill deals with some tricky legal issues. Of course, it is one of two bills that we have considered recently that incorporate international treaties into domestic law, the other being the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (Incorporation) (Scotland) Bill, which was passed last week, so the Government comes to the issue with some experience. I thank the Government for introducing the UNCRC bill, which of course I enthusiastically voted for and which helped to map out some of the complexities that were present in the drafting of my bill.

The fundamental purpose of my bill is to strengthen the standing of local government in the democratic governance of Scotland. It achieves that by incorporating into Scots law the substantive articles of the European Charter of Local Self-Government. The charter will thus become justiciable in the Scottish courts, and it will be possible to challenge any alleged violation of the charter by ministers. If a challenge is upheld, a declaration of incompatibility can be made by the Court of Session.

The charter is an international treaty of the Council of Europe. It was opened for signature on 15 October 1985, and its articles set out in international law a range of basic freedoms for local government across the 47 member states of the Council of Europe. The treaty was signed by the newly elected Labour Government in 1997 but, critically, it has no force in domestic law until it is incorporated, which is what the bill does. Scotland is in fact one of the very few countries that has not incorporated the charter. If the bill is passed this evening, I look forward to England and Wales following Scotland’s example.

Incorporation of the charter fulfils a long-standing call from the Convention of Scottish Local Authorities and civic Scotland. COSLA worked in the Council of Europe’s Congress of Local and Regional Authorities to develop the charter in the 1980s, and has been calling ever since for its adoption and incorporation. Civic Scotland highlighted the importance of the charter in the report of the Scottish Constitutional Convention in 1998, which set the parameters for the Scottish Parliament. It was clear that the principles contained in the charter should be, in its words, “embodied” and in particular that councils should have a power of general competence. That is guaranteed by article 4.2 of the charter, but is as yet unimplemented.

As far back as 1972, Jimmy Reid, in his famous rectorial address, argued:

“The power of Parliament has undoubtedly been eroded over past decades, with more and more authority being invested in the Executive. The power of local authorities has been and is being systematically undermined.”

Of course, when Jimmy Reid spoke those words in 1972, we were in the process of abolishing 196 very local town councils.

Unlike most European countries, our local democratic institutions have suffered from ad hoc reform, systematic disempowerment and neglect. We have one of the weakest systems of local government in Europe. We have so-called local councils in which, for example, Ballachulish and Wick are considered to be in the same local area.

Back in 1999 at the dawn of this Parliament, the McIntosh commission on local government observed:

“It could be said that Scotland today simply does not have a system of local government in the sense in which many other countries still do. The 32 councils now existing are, in effect, what in other countries are called county councils or provinces”.

As recently as 2013, COSLA argued:

“Scotland is one of the most centralised countries in Europe. It is no coincidence that our European neighbours are often more successful at improving outcomes, and have much greater turn out at elections.”

Those debates remain very much alive and are for another day. However, I hope that the bill is an opportunity to reset the important relationship between central and local government and to provide the local state with fundamental guarantees as to the scope of its powers and the opportunity for redress when national Government overreaches into the affairs of the local.

During stage 1, it was often observed that, in and of itself, the bill delivers modest practical change. That is correct. I am afraid to say that the voters of Scotland will struggle to relate to the bill. They may not even notice its passing, on today of all days. However, like incorporation of human rights, the bill embeds a set of new rules governing the relationship with the state, violation of which can lead to sanctions.

It is thus an enabler and promoter of a new awareness and culture of and a respect for the freedoms and powers of local government. I hope that it will not only encourage a culture shift, but that it will, in the future, curtail the potential excessive interference in the affairs of local government—from rate capping to council tax freezes—that has happened from time to time over the decades. I close on that controversial point.

I move,

That the Parliament agrees that the European Charter of Local Self-Government (Incorporation) (Scotland) Bill be passed.