Meeting of the Parliament 19 April 2023
The Scottish Conservatives object to the debate that is scheduled for next Tuesday on the United Kingdom Government’s Illegal Migration Bill and, for that reason, we will oppose the business motion tonight. We are deeply concerned, although not surprised, by the Scottish Government’s intention to use parliamentary time to debate an issue that is entirely reserved to the UK Parliament. Plainly, there are very differing views across this chamber on the issues of migration, but we have no idea of the Scottish Government’s views on the bill, because no legislative consent memorandum has been published or made available to the public. The Government has failed to publish any formal documentation regarding the competence of the bill in advance of the business motion that has been presented to Parliament today. We do not know whether the Scottish Government thinks that devolved competence is engaged or whether it believes that legislative consent is necessary. If it does believe that consent is necessary, we do not know why or in what way. We do not know what areas of devolved competence the Scottish Government argues are affected. No committee of this Parliament has taken evidence or considered the bill in any form. That situation makes a mockery of this Parliament and its processes.
More broadly, it is telling that, in the early weeks of the fledgling new Government, one of the first issues that the Scottish Government wants to debate is a UK bill on a matter that is specifically reserved, as a matter of law, to the UK Parliament. In short, no credible rationale has been given as to why a debate on the bill is either justified or necessary. For those reasons, we will vote against the business motion tonight.