Meeting of the Parliament 13 March 2018
Thank you, Presiding Officer. First, I declare that I am a member of the Delegated Powers and Law Reform Committee.
The Scottish Conservatives have been clear that the European Union (Withdrawal) Bill would have to change if it is to reflect the principles of the United Kingdom’s devolved settlements. It was regrettable that amendments to the bill could not be tabled in time before the bill passed through the House of Commons, but amendments to it should reflect discussions between the Scottish and UK Governments.
I have been pleased that there has been progress in those negotiations, which the minister referred to last week in his evidence to the Delegated Powers and Law Reform Committee. However, although the stated intent of the Scottish Government bill is continuity, in reality it represents discontinuity and disruption. It represents discontinuity with this Parliament’s tradition of debate, discussion and scrutiny, and possible disruption to the process of negotiations between the UK and Scottish Governments. As my colleague Adam Tomkins said last week, it is a wrecking bill.
I hope that, as Mike Russell has stated, successful negotiations between the UK and Scottish Governments will mean that the European Union (Withdrawal) Bill can be satisfactorily amended and that the continuity bill does not have to come into effect. Nevertheless, as parliamentarians, it is incumbent on us to address deficiencies in legislation, however constricting the circumstances.
I thank Mike Russell for making himself available to the committees of this Parliament to address the numerous problems that the continuity bill creates. Nonetheless, that is no substitute for the full process of parliamentary deliberation that such a significant bill needs.
In the DPLR committee meeting, I was able to share with Mike Russell my concerns about how little time the SNP Government intends to allow for Scotland’s Parliament to scrutinise the bill. The fact remains that one of the most significant pieces of legislation in the Scottish Parliament’s history will be scrutinised over a period of less than a month.
The Scottish Conservatives have lodged a series of amendments to address obvious deficiencies in the bill. As it stands, the bill creates extraordinary powers for Scottish ministers to repeal the bill itself and to legislate in line with the EU after exit. The bill fails to deal properly with the reality of a clearly defined exit date or the possibility of a withdrawal period. Those and numerous other issues in the bill require significant attention.
The correct means of ensuring that Scotland and the whole UK are prepared to leave the EU is the withdrawal bill. Yes, the withdrawal bill as introduced is unacceptable, but although some devolved powers intersect with returning EU powers, the whole UK is leaving the EU and we need a bill that prepares the entire United Kingdom for exiting and reflects the integrity of our UK internal market—something that the continuity bill appears to have no interest in doing.
The process of negotiations between the UK and Scottish Governments has been longer than anyone would have hoped, but if the will is there, I am sure that an agreement can be reached and powers can return from Brussels to Holyrood by the correct means. I hope that that can happen within a timeframe that will deem the continuity bill irrelevant before it has even reached its final stage, but while the bill is before us it is this Parliament’s responsibility to address its obvious and numerous defects. That is why I shall be supporting the Scottish Conservative amendments to the bill.
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