For Immediate Release - Monday 21 March 2011
Attn: NEWSDESKS
POLITICAL CORRESPONDENTS
SCOTLAND BILL ‘A MISSED OPPORTUNITY’
SNP MP Eilidh Whiteford has today (Monday) taken the unusual step of lodging a minority position in the Scottish Affairs Committee Report on the Scotland Bill.
Dr Whiteford, who is the only SNP Member of the Scottish Affairs Committee, expressed her concern that the report agreed by Labour, the Liberal Democrats and Conservative MPs, did not fully reflect the diversity of views presented to the Committee.
Commenting, Dr Whiteford said:
“The Committee heard a range of views on the Scotland Bill and the report, as it stood, failed to reflect that. On many points, the Committee shared concerns, but on some matters we drew different conclusions, so this minority report aims to ensure that these conclusions are reflected.
“What came through very strongly from the evidence was that this Bill has been rushed through with inadequate scrutiny and consultation. There are still real question marks over how some of its proposals will work in practice and whether it really moves us very far forward.
“Twelve years on, of course it was absolutely right to look at how devolution is working, but the outcome has been a timid piece of legislation that falls short. In that sense this Bill is a real missed opportunity. As it stands, the Bill offers little that will help Scotland boost sustainable economic growth and create jobs, the very real challenges we face in the current climate."
Excerpts from Dr Whiteford’s report:
While the objectives of further empowering the Scottish Parliament and increasing its accountability are entirely laudable, the Scotland Bill makes only modest progress in the direction of those objectives. In this respect, the passage of the Scotland Bill is a missed opportunity to enhance devolution more significantly by delivering to Scotland the levers to promote economic growth and create employment.
In the aftermath of a bruising global recession, when restoring the health of the economy through sustainable growth and job creation ought to be the top priority of Governments, the Scotland Bill ducks the challenge of devolving greater fiscal responsibility to the Scottish Parliament and Government that would equip them with powers to strengthen and improve economic and social policy in Scotland, while significantly enhancing their financial accountability.
[...]
The principle that the UK Parliament should not normally legislate with regard to devolved matters without the consent of the Scottish Parliament is an important one. In this respect, the timetable of the Scotland Bill has provided less than optimum opportunity for the Scottish Parliament to scrutinise the legislation before its progress in the House of Commons, or to consult adequately with wider civil society in Scotland. In particular, it is regrettable that the first day of Committee Stage debate in the House of Commons took place before the Scottish Parliament had an opportunity to debate its Legislative Consent Motion.
[...]
The Committee’s deliberations have centred mainly on the financial provisions of the Scotland Bill, as these have been the focus of considerable public debate and the source of greatest variation in views. However, the non-financial provisions of the Bill are also worthy of attention, and the Committee received numerous written submissions in response to its call for evidence from a wide range of stakeholders and individuals. Particular policy areas where proposals of the Calman Commission for further devolution have been omitted from, or only partially included in the Scotland Bill include a role for the Scottish in benefits policy; marine nature conservation; and in relation to the Crown Estate Commissioners.
[...]
In relation to the income tax proposals, the Scottish Government and others have expressed concern regarding the over-reliance on a single tax (in this case, one which has been decreasing as a proportion of public spending over the last forty years) rather than on multiple taxes. As income tax has grown at a slower rate than public spending across OECD countries in the last four decades, the Scotland Bill potentially introduces risks to the Scottish Budget. These risks could be mitigated by access to other economic levers, but the existing proposals of the Scotland Bill offer no such provision. This issue is compounded by the fact that revenue from higher rate tax bands tends to grow faster than revenue from the basic rate band, yet the Bill devolves half of basic rate income tax revenue, but only a quarter of higher, and a fifth of top rate tax revenues respectively, thereby potentially exposing the Scottish Budget to unnecessary risk, especially in times of economic downturn. During recession, lower revenue from income tax would be likely to lead to a decline in the Scottish Budget at a time when demands on it would be increasing and there would be merit in increasing public spending to stimulate the economy.
[...]
The Committee has also received evidence on and considered the capital and revenue borrowing provisions contained in the Bill, which would allow annual borrowing of up to £200 million in any one year, with a maximum limit of £500 million to finance current expenditure where there are differences between the forecasts and the actualities of Scottish tax revenue under the Bill’s income tax proposals. Most of the expert witnesses from whom we took evidence identified these limits as too low in the context of the introduction of the proposed new income tax raising powers, and the attendant increased volatility these are likely to bring. The Scottish Parliament’s Scotland Bill Committee also examined this issue, concluding that the powers are ‘inadequate’ as proposed, recommending that the limit on borrowing be ‘set by reference to the capacity of the Scottish Government prudently to finance it from devolved tax revenue.’ That Committee also ‘invites the UK Government to consider bringing forward these borrowing powers’ while recognising the UK Government’s wish to constrain borrowing in the present economic climate. The Scottish Parliament’s Scotland Bill Committee also considered the issue of bonds, concluding that the ability of the Scottish Government to access the bond markets ‘is not a possibility that should be ruled out in statute’ and recommending ‘that the Bill be amended to permit this, subject, if the UK Government thinks it necessary, to the agreement from HM Treasury to conditions for bond issues’. The Bill should therefore be amended in accordance with these eminently sensible recommendations which will strengthen the proposals in the Bill and enable more effective governance in Scotland.
ENDS
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