Meeting of the Parliament 09 January 2024
Thank you very much. Happy new year to you, Presiding Officer, and to members right across the chamber.
Like Clare Adamson, I am delighted to participate in this important debate about the report by the Constitution, Europe, External Affairs and Culture Committee. I thank all the committee members and the clerks for what is an extremely thorough and forensic piece of work, and I commend it to all members who have not yet read it.
The report’s conclusion should surprise no one in the chamber. Brexit has ushered in an unprecedented assault on the powers of this Parliament and on the whole system of self-government that was endorsed decisively by people in Scotland in 1997. The Scottish Government was not alone in predicting the negative impact of Brexit on devolved institutions. Indeed, the Welsh Government has also sounded a clear and consistent alarm at the UK Government’s approach to devolution and intergovernmental relations since 2016. Sadly, those fears have come to pass, as the committee’s report lays bare.
The force of the report’s conclusion is, of course, made all the more powerful by the fact that it is unanimous. It was supported by members from the Scottish National Party, the Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party and the Scottish Labour Party. I hope that the willingness to rise above party political considerations that is evident in the report will encourage colleagues from all sides of the chamber to engage in a way that allows this Parliament to speak with one voice on the threat that it faces.
The thoroughness and quality of the committee’s work means that it cannot be dismissed as what some are fond of saying is nothing more than “manufactured grievance”. It is nothing less than a clear warning of the need for a unified response from this Parliament to the threat that Scotland’s devolved institutions face.