Scotland: Constitutional Settlement

Lord Lexden Excerpts

Tuesday 10th March 2015 Lords Chamber

Asked by

[Lord Lexden]

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of the public reaction to their Command Paper Scotland in the United Kingdom: An enduring settlement.

[The Advocate-General for Scotland (Lord Wallace of Tankerness) (LD)]

My Lords, the Government welcome feedback on the draft clauses as we continue to refine the draft legislation. We are holding events across Scotland to enable stakeholders to provide feedback on the draft clauses and how the new powers might be best used. Four events have taken place to date, with a further event in the borders later this month. Representatives from a wide range of sectors are participating, including from business, the voluntary sector, universities and schools.

[Lord Lexden (Con)]

Can my noble and learned friend explain how the Government’s proposals will provide a basis for an enduring settlement when the Scottish National Party is demanding yet further concessions? Is it not obvious that we need a new constitutional settlement, an explicitly unionist settlement, for our entire country, not further piecemeal changes in different parts of it, devised with short, artificial deadlines? When will our national leaders of all parties summon up the eloquence and conviction that is needed to make the case for an enduring union, which so many of us in this House, in the other place and throughout our country hold so dear?

[Lord Wallace of Tankerness]

I entirely agree with my noble friend on that need. The best way forward is to have an enduring union, to which I am certainly committed. The proposals in the White Paper which the Government produced at the end of January give effect to the agreement reached under the commission chaired by the noble Lord, Lord Smith of Kelvin. Not to have acknowledged and fulfilled the commitment given to the electorate would have been more damaging to the union. I have taken part in numerous debates in your Lordships’ House where noble Lords from all sides have called for a constitutional convention. That may well be the way forward after the election.