Meeting of the Parliament 19 February 2025
Labour is in a complete pickle. It does not stand for change and it does not stand for hope.
Scotland has one of the most powerful devolved Parliaments in the world. The problem is not a lack of powers but the Scottish Government’s failure to use those powers effectively. As I said, the Scottish Government already has control of health, education, transport, justice and the economy, yet in every one of those areas outcomes are getting worse and worse on its watch. The Government needs to look no further than itself when it comes to the erosion of Scottish parliamentary powers. Time after time, it has absconded from its duty and refused to allow proper scrutiny in the chamber. In some circumstances, it is a case of policy by press release, without any opportunity for any of us to scrutinise its announcements.
Increasingly, the Scottish Government uses framework bills, as well as Henry VIII powers, which has allowed it to circumvent the robust and proper scrutiny that should be fundamental to Parliament’s role. Instead of presenting developed policies, it introduces skeleton framework bills, leaving the crucial detail to be attached later through secondary legislation. That means far less scrutiny and transparency. That was evident during the passage of the Agriculture and Rural Communities (Scotland) Bill, which was passed in June. Farmers are still to receive any further detail on the support within that framework. That is not the behaviour of a Government that values democracy.
The Scottish Government’s contempt for parliamentary scrutiny has never been more apparent than it was yesterday, when it whipped SNP members to refuse Parliament the opportunity to rightly scrutinise the provision of single-sex spaces. It is not protecting devolution; it is dismantling accountability.
One example of where parliamentary scrutiny must be upheld relates to the internal market act. I completely disagree with Kate Forbes—the legislation is crucial to protecting Scottish businesses and jobs. She quotes NFU Scotland, but it is 100 per cent behind protecting the integrity of the United Kingdom. Sixty per cent of our trade is with the rest of the UK, which is more than our trade with Europe.