Hansard

I, too, extend my thanks to the committees and clerks who spent time looking at the legislative consent motion back in 2022 when it first came to the Parliament. It is a pity that the devolved Scottish Government has not shown the same respect to our committee system and the processes of the Scottish Parliament in lodging today’s motion, as we have heard from two conveners.

Our committees are in place to provide scrutiny and reports to Parliament. The devolved Government will like and use some parts of those, and it will disagree with other parts of them, but normally in a respectful way. It is disappointing that the committees have been treated in such a poor way over the LCM.

I will move on to the motion that is before us. I welcome the fact that civil servants of both Governments have worked to ensure that the measures and benefits of the bill will work across the whole of the United Kingdom. Council leaders from all parties have welcomed the additional funding from the UK Parliament, and councils—including Scottish National Party-led councils—have been eager to put forward projects and proposals to access it. That is indicative of the requirement of local authorities to access much-needed funding for capital and major infrastructure projects in their areas.

The levelling up funds have led to significant projects—there is £27 million for a new ferry for Fair Isle, £20 million for Peterhead regeneration, £20 million for town centre regeneration in Kilmarnock, £19.3 million for Fife and £18 million for Dumfries and Galloway, plus many more projects. All those projects will deliver economic growth, regeneration, business development and—most important—jobs. The money goes direct to our communities so that they can make significant improvements to benefit their areas. That is real devolution in action.

I am pleased that compromise has been found on many of the clauses in parts 3, 6 and 12 of the bill. Our two Governments seem to disagree about part 1—one says that it goes against devolution and the other says that consent is not necessary for setting missions. If only we had committees of this Parliament that could report with a view.

It is strange to hear that the cabinet secretary feels that part 1 is an attack on devolution in the same week that a council tax freeze has been imposed on local government. The past week has shown the value that the Scottish Government places on our local authority colleagues; it has ripped up the Verity house agreement before the ink was even dry. That agreement clearly states that there should be no surprises, although the announcement that council tax would be frozen was a surprise not only to local government but to the Cabinet, according to the cabinet secretary.

The changes that UK ministers proposed to secure legislative consent make it clear that they will consult devolved Administrations and Governments appropriately. UK ministers will have regard to devolved legislatures and Governments in preparing statements on levelling up missions. Other provisions in part 1 will ensure that the Scottish ministers retain the options and controls that are required in the devolved context.

Conservative colleagues will vote for the motion. In support of our valued colleagues in local government, we want to see more investment, not less, and we want to see more devolution to our communities. We support the efforts of any Government to do that.