Meeting of the Parliament 04 February 2026
I am pleased to contribute to the debate following the opening remarks from Mark Ruskell, who is the member in charge of the bill. I pay tribute to him for the constructive engagement that we have had.
The Scottish Government remains committed to the European Charter of Local Self-Government (Incorporation) (Scotland) Bill and to the charter’s principles. That sits alongside the Verity house agreement and the explicit commitment by ministers to support Mark Ruskell to progress this member’s bill to reconsideration stage as soon as possible.
Our offer of practical support was informed by our experience of the first bill to proceed to reconsideration stage in the Scottish Parliament. That is now the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (Incorporation) (Scotland) Act 2024.
As the Parliament will be aware, the European Charter of Local Self-Government (Incorporation) (Scotland) Bill was the second of two bills that were referred to the Supreme Court and found to be outwith the Scottish Parliament’s legislative competence by it. In my letter to Mark Ruskell last month, which was published by the Local Government, Housing and Planning Committee, I confirmed that, if the Parliament agrees to reconsider the bill, the Scottish Government will lodge and speak to the amendments that we deem to be necessary, drawing on our previous experience of supporting a bill’s progress through reconsideration.
If the Parliament agrees to Mr Ruskell’s motion, I intend to lodge amendments as soon as possible that will be designed to achieve three things. First, the amendments will retain as much of the bill’s original purpose and practical effect as possible. Secondly, the amendments will clearly frame the applicable duties and remedies in the bill within the boundaries of devolved competence, in order to address the findings of the Supreme Court judgment. Thirdly, and crucially, the amendments will minimise the possibility of a further Supreme Court referral.
My officials have been engaging constructively with UK Government officials for a period of time, sharing draft proposals and pursuing a co-operative dialogue on the implications of the Supreme Court’s judgment for the bill’s key operative provisions. That engagement and the process of developing amendments has once again highlighted the challenging practical effect of the restrictions on the Scottish Parliament’s scope to legislate that result from section 28(7) of the Scotland Act 1998. That section states that the power of the Scottish Parliament to make laws for Scotland
“does not affect the power of the Parliament of the United Kingdom”
to do so. Discussion of the implications of the Supreme Court judgment continues, and we expect further academic and stakeholder commentary on the matter.
Although the amendments that I intend to lodge would limit the legal impact of the bill to some extent, it should be remembered that the Verity house agreement, although not legally binding, already commits ministers to act consistently with many of the charter’s principles. Those include subsidiarity and
“a presumption in favour of local flexibility”,
using language that was drawn directly from the charter. The agreement has already helped to realise many of the aspirations of the charter by strengthening and framing the relationship between our two spheres of government and setting out how we will work together to better deliver improved outcomes for the people of Scotland.
The agreement also committed ministers to ensuring that local government has greater flexibility to tailor solutions to meet local needs. By the end of this parliamentary session, we will have baselined more than £2 billion of the general revenue grant, jointly published a fiscal framework with COSLA, completed the local governance review, taken forward short-term action to enhance the ability of councils to innovate, meaningfully progressed work towards a power of general competence, introduced new revenue-raising powers and commenced groundwork to support future council tax reform.
Reconsideration of the bill is the logical next step to enshrine that existing good practice in law. Crucially, COSLA, as the key local government representative organisation in Scotland, supports the amendments that I intend to lodge; it shares the priority of completing reconsideration in this session of Parliament and avoiding a further referral. I put on record my thanks to COSLA for all the work that it has done in this area so far.
Agreeing to the motion to reconsider the bill is the necessary first step to allow Parliament to scrutinise and decide on my amendments. I invite members to support Mark Ruskell’s motion so that we can, before the end of this session of Parliament, deliver a bill that remains faithful to the charter’s purpose, is workable in practice and strengthens local self-government in Scotland.