Scotland Bill

Lord O'Neill of Clackmannan Excerpts

Tuesday 28th February 2012 Lords Chamber

[Lord Cameron of Lochbroom]

As the debate continues, it seems we are missing something. If I think back to my days in the law, we had a book called Road Traffic Offences, which dealt with the whole substance of road traffic law, which included regulations in respect of licensing and also of course the issue of penalties. Here, we are, in part, trying to add on to a United Kingdom Act—the Road Traffic Act 1988 in one case, and the Road Traffic Regulation Act 1984 in another—little bits that will apply only to Scotland and which devolve power to make certain changes in the whole structure of road traffic law in that way. As an individual who has to obey the law, I would find it very difficult to find where to go to in order to understand what my obligations are in driving. Leaving aside the issue about licensing and the like raised by the noble Lord, Lord Sewel, the United Kingdom licence is a licence to drive anywhere—yet we are asking individuals throughout the United Kingdom to have regard to regulations made by two separate bodies, each with their own responsibilities, which are giving rise to a whole series of different and very difficult questions that have already been brought to mind in this debate. I wonder whether—

[Lord O'Neill of Clackmannan]

Before the noble and learned Lord leaves that point about two different jurisdictions, can he perhaps clear up for me the difference in relation to corroboration between Scotland and England? As I understand it, at the moment, because we have UK traffic legislation, only one policeman is required to provide evidence in an arrest. However, were Scottish legislation to apply and there was a different alcohol or speed limit, would that be subject to a different form of corroboration, since it came from Scots law rather than UK law?

[Lord Cameron of Lochbroom]

The noble Lord raises an interesting point. I would not wish to give any definitive opinion as it is a long time since I have had to deal with these matters. The noble and learned Lord, Lord Boyd, is probably better able to do so, as he has a more modern understanding of road traffic law as a recent Lord Advocate in Scotland. However, these questions arise over a whole series of issues apart from road traffic. We are getting into an area where I wonder whether the kind of devolving of powers that is being sought here is in fact creating more problems that it would do if the whole issue of road traffic legislation—instead of being under the Road Traffic Regulation Act 1984 or the Road Traffic Act 1988—were left as a separate Act that applies within the jurisdiction of the Scottish Parliament. That would be much clearer for members of the United Kingdom.

Scotland Bill

Lord O'Neill of Clackmannan Excerpts

Thursday 2nd February 2012 Lords Chamber

[Lord O'Neill of Clackmannan]

I am very pleased to follow the noble Lord, Lord MacGregor. There seems to be an outbreak of unity in the Chamber today and we should be grateful to the noble Lords, Lord Forsyth and Lord Foulkes, for their amendments. The amendments may have imperfections but the point has been well made that devolution was to be about the extension of democracy, greater accountability and, ultimately, greater transparency. Through that, we hoped that there would be a measure of equity. In fact, what we have here is a classic example of the inequitable character of our constitutional arrangements.

I voted very reluctantly in favour of the principle of charging fees—I was probably one of the last converts from the Whips’ arm-twisting process and what have you. However, I am not sure whether I would have voted in favour of the principle of fees if I had thought that it was going to be abused in the way that it is being abused by the Scottish Government. From the very speedy but quite succinct analysis given by the noble Lord, Lord Sutherland, of the accounting procedures adopted by the separatist Administration in Edinburgh, it is quite clear that they are out to discriminate against the rest of the United Kingdom and to prevent young people coming to our universities. If they do come, they will be making a disproportionate contribution to the finances of these institutions.

It is certainly the case that some institutions for historical reasons, such as Edinburgh, are probably better endowed and better able to introduce generous systems of support. There are a number of institutions that one might almost call marginal in their financial capability to provide the kind of support—

[Lord Sutherland of Houndwood]

I thank the noble Lord for giving way. The money that Edinburgh will put forward for needy students comes from the total fees package that is taken in. Clearly, they test alumni—looking around the Chamber, I remind Members of this—for additional funds to do that, but a significant part of the money comes from the fees that they charge.

[Lord O'Neill of Clackmannan]

The point I was going on to make is that some of the newer institutions are less well endowed in the round, have smaller numbers of alumni for a start, and are discriminated against in another way. Those institutions are not as attractive and are therefore unable to benefit from students from the rest of the UK or from abroad. Even within the system there are difficulties and inequities. There are imperfections in the two amendments, and the Government have to take the point that this Chamber is not happy with the way in which things have developed, nor with the unfairness that has been inflicted on children and families across the country. One part of the United Kingdom is able to benefit from devolution in this way and have free education at undergraduate level, while others in the same country are discriminated against when they come to Scotland to study or are deterred altogether, which I think is even more significant. Our universities and our Scottish institutions make a unique contribution to the mix.

I have had this discussion in my own family with my sons. They say, “We’re not really interested in going to Oxbridge; we think Edinburgh and Glasgow are perfectly adequate to provide us with an education”. One could argue that they might have got the emphasis a wee bit wrong, but that mood still prevails. However, we do not want children to grow up in some kind of Caledonian closet, where they will not be open to other relationships and cultures. My younger son, who went to Glasgow, learnt a lot from being in the same halls of residence and playing in the same football team as young men from Northern Ireland, whose cultural and social background was dramatically different from his own. Such people will not necessarily have the chance to come to our institutions and the Scots who go to our institutions will not have their company.

Money is at the beginning, the middle and the end of this situation, but there are other dimensions. When we started on the road to devolution, we wanted, as I said earlier, to create a better United Kingdom, not a United Kingdom that was inequitable because of the cynicism of separatists in Scotland who wished to use the mechanism at their disposal to discredit the concept of the UK. This is an opportunity for us to avoid that and to ensure that they can be exposed for the charlatans they are when they argue in favour of free education for some but not for the rest, not because they do not happen to be Scottish but because they just happen to live in the wrong part of the United Kingdom.

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[Lord Browne of Ladyton]

I am grateful to the noble Lord for that intervention. I am a member of a profession that prides itself on discrimination—at least certainly in its history it did—between those who had rights of audience in the higher courts and those who were historically perfectly capable of making the arguments but were denied. That division was addressed in the way the noble Lord has suggested. I am absolutely certain that the discrimination I was alluding to, which was based more on geography than on someone’s membership of certain branches of the profession, has now been addressed. I am not entirely sure whether it has or not, but the purpose of introducing it was not to take us down a cul-de-sac, but to explore the issue of whether the interest in principle of the noble Lord, Lord Forsyth, was a necessary way of redressing a situation that went beyond student fees.

[Lord O'Neill of Clackmannan]

Perhaps my noble friend would remember that we do not need to have a solution that covers every form of discrimination. He should not allow the waters to be muddied by the somewhat unhelpful intervention of the noble Lord, Lord Forsyth, by way of a question. It is quite clear that on the educational issue here, this Committee is united. That is the message which should go up the channels of the Labour Party to those who will think about considering another amendment at some stage and whether or not it could be supported. Let us be clear: we just want something on fees and on the discriminatory effect of that issue.

[Lord Browne of Ladyton]

I am grateful to my noble friend for his clarity of presentation. I do not think that anyone, having heard the debate or on reading it in the future, as people will, could be in any doubt about the mood of the Committee over this issue. That message will get through to those who need to hear it. In a sense, my noble friend was saying much the same thing as I was. I am not sure whether this is an issue which as a question of principle actually goes beyond the question of student fees, but if it does, then perhaps it needs to be addressed in the way suggested by the noble Lord, Lord Forsyth.

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[Lord Maclennan of Rogart]

My Lords, I support the thoughts lying behind this amendment. When approached recently by an American company which indicated the desire to establish a small nuclear research plant in Scotland to develop nuclear power on a small scale, I was rather shocked to be advised by the Department of Energy and Climate Change that, because of the planned powers for the Scottish Parliament and the declared expression of intent to allow no nuclear developments in Scotland, this approach, which would have brought significant employment to Scotland, was to be denied.

I know that there are different attitudes to nuclear power in different parts of Scotland. I know, for example, that my noble and learned friend’s former constituents were always a little unhappy about what was happening across the Pentland Firth at Dounreay. Equally, my noble and learned friend will recall the satisfaction of my former constituents that nuclear power was being developed and researched on the north coast of Britain as part of a strategic policy on energy development. It is rather unfortunate, to say the least, that the good will of those in that particular area towards nuclear power is to be overlooked and that the possibility of replacement in the research field is to be denied when the Dounreay nuclear establishment is finally decommissioned.

My comments, like those of the noble Lord, Lord Sewel, are probing. It appears that the original intentions of devolution in respect to energy policy have been effectively stymied by matters which will not necessarily proceed to be related directly to the strategic questions. Having policies for different parts of the United Kingdom in relation to energy, which transcends even existing national frontiers, is almost certainly unwise. Indeed, I think that when the Prime Minister came back from the European Council the other day, he talked about enlarging the scope of the European Union in respect of energy policy. Therefore, we seem to have two standards here—one relating to how we deal with Europe and one relating to how we deal with internal matters—and I think that these anomalies need to be sorted out. However, as I said, this is merely a probing inquiry.

[Lord O'Neill of Clackmannan]

I should like to follow my colleagues on this issue because for some time I was chairman of the Nuclear Industry Association. My connection with that organisation has now been terminated, so I do not have to declare an interest but I still have great affection and respect for the industry.

It is certainly fair to say that an amendment of this kind has to be probing in character because, to be realistic, we do not really want to face the prospect of a planning challenge at this time on nuclear matters. I do not think it would be reasonable to say that there is fantastic demand in Scotland for Hunterston C and D being constructed at this time. However, by 2015 or 2016, we will have the large plant directive in place and, therefore, Cockenzie power station, which is relative small, will probably be closed and we will also have the prospect of Longannet, which is the massive linchpin of Scottish power generation, operating under severe constraints as a consequence of the large plant directive.

Torness will probably carry on until 2025, given likely extensions if the safety codes are met. Within the next eight years investment decisions will have to be taken as far as replacement base load generation is concerned. It ought to be made as clear as possible what restraints there are on the possibility of the planning powers of the Scottish devolved Parliament being constrained or changed or being ignored, if that were possible. If energy is a reserved power, does the power to frustrate through the planning process necessarily enable a Scottish Parliament to deny the people of Scotland and the United Kingdom the contribution that a power station on the scale of Torness could offer?

It is suggested that the nuclear industry is somehow alien to Scotland, that we do not have anything to do with it, and the plutonophobes, in their separatist windmills, forget that probably as much credit has to go to James Clerk Maxwell as anyone for the development of nuclear power. Through companies like the Weir Group and through a variety of other groups like Renfrew-based Doosan Babcock, the nuclear power industry is very vibrant and strong in a lot of areas of Scotland. Although it does not enjoy the weekend press releases that we get for the somewhat immature, renewable technologies—immature in the sense that they are barely proven and barely out of the laboratory—in its hands will lie the economic success of Scotland.

It is true that we will still have gas-fired power stations, but it is quite likely that, if the carbon capture and storage technologies are developed, they will try to apply them to that form of generation as well. If that happens, it will severely restrict even the capability of the gas-fired power stations to make a proper contribution to our energy needs. I make the point that, although today it is not an important issue, we still have some time to go before a Torness replacement has to be considered. There will be uncertainties about the continuing generating capability of our main stations by 2015. Not all of us are quite as optimistic about the contribution, 24/7, base load in character, that can be made at present by renewable power stations.

Therefore, it is important that an issue of this nature is afforded some clarity. That is why I am very grateful to my noble friend Lord Sewel for raising it. We are not asking for the earth to move or anything like that; we are merely asking for some clarity from the Advocate-General on this question.

[The Earl of Mar and Kellie]

My Lords, is this not a matter of Scottish democracy? I suggest that in 2016, the Labour Party in Scotland needs to come forward—providing it is prepared to put up with the description of being nuclear Labour—with the type of policy that will presumably be substantially different from the policy continuing to be put out by the current Scottish Government.

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[Lord Wallace of Tankerness]

My Lords, I thank the noble Lord, Lord Sewel, for introducing this issue. I take the point he made that the pegs on which he hangs it are perhaps not details that he wishes to address. Rather he wishes to open up the wider issue of energy policy and, more specifically, nuclear energy policy with regard to the devolution settlement.

That said, it is important to note that decommissioning gives rise to important issues regarding substantial amounts of nuclear waste. We do well to remember that decommissioning the civil nuclear legacy and managing the radioactive waste produced as a result is a joint project across the UK, and the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority reports to both Scottish and UK Ministers, although it is funded centrally by the UK Government through DECC. There have been good working relationships on that point.

The noble Lord, Lord Sewel, raised the more general question about energy policy. The balance that has been struck, with the United Kingdom in the driving seat with regard to UK energy policy, is one that we endorse. The Calman commission received a number of representations on these issues and indicated that it believed that a UK-wide approach is essential to ensure a continuing national supply, that international targets and obligations are met and that consumers have access to a competitive and modern energy market. It concluded that the current arrangements remain appropriate and provide a balance between powers appropriately exercised at devolved and reserved levels, although it encouraged proper engagement between the two Governments.

The UK nuclear energy policy has been set out in the national policy statement EN6, which was ratified in 2011. I am grateful that my noble friend the Minister at DECC is in his place. He will, no doubt, correct me if I get any of this wrong. This national policy statement provides for enough sites across the United Kingdom for a significant build programme going forward for new nuclear sites. I do not know the detail of the extension times for currently operational nuclear power stations. Scotland currently has five nuclear power stations, three of which are in the process of being decommissioned—Hunterston A, Dounreay and Chapelcross—and two are still operational—Hunterston B and Torness. There is also an MoD site, as my noble friend Lord Maclennan will know, the Vulcan Naval Reactor Test Establishment adjacent to Dounreay, which ran a test reactor for the nuclear submarine programme. I will get confirmation to the noble Lord, Lord Browne, about the remaining lifetime of those plants.

I think it is fair to say that the noble Lord perceives that there may be some inconsistency in the view taken by the Scottish Government with regard to extension as opposed to their stated view with regard to new build.

[Lord O'Neill of Clackmannan]

I may be of some small assistance here. It is my understanding that life extension would be the responsibility of the Nuclear Installations Inspectorate. A safety case has to be advanced. Were that to have construction implications that required planning, that might cause a wee bit of a problem, but the basic case has to be satisfactory in the eyes of the Nuclear Installations Inspectorate.

[Lord Wallace of Tankerness]

I am sure the noble Lord is absolutely right. At the core of this—maybe not the right word—at the heart of it is the safety case, which would be determined by the independent Nuclear Installations Inspectorate. The noble Lord raised the point, which we will come on to, about other issues leading to issues about planning. It is not only planning because in 1999 there was executive devolution that transferred to Scottish Ministers powers under Section 36 of the Electricity Act with regard to giving permission for power stations in excess of 50 megawatts, and that would include any future nuclear power stations.

I perhaps interpret the concerns to include how that would operate. To be fair, more generally in planning it probably makes sense to have planning powers. In the debate on the then Scotland Bill, the noble Lord, Lord Sewel, said that,

“an Act of the Scottish parliament containing provisions about water pollution from coal-mines or dust from open-cast coal-mining would affect the reserved matter of coal-mining. If the courts were to apply a literal approach, they could hold that these provisions related to the reserved matter and would therefore be beyond the legislative competence of the Scottish parliament. This would make a nonsense of the devolution of pollution control”.—[Official Report, 21/7/98; col. 819.]

There is some good sense that there should be planning considerations.

I should also perhaps draw to the attention of the Committee a decision in the Outer House, Court of Session, last year by Lord McEwan in a petition of Dulce Packard and others for judicial review. He said:

“The best guidance is the Lewis case (the mixed redevelopment at Redcar on Teesside). It is quite clear from the case that the Minister’s position is quite different from someone holding a judicial or quasi judicial office. All the Minister has to do is to consider genuinely the inquiry report and the objections”.

Clearly, we have not yet had any application. But he went on to quote from the Lewis case and the judgment of Lord Justice Rix.

“So the test would be whether there is an appearance of predetermination in the sense of a mind closed to the planning merits of the decision in question”.

It would be wrong to speculate what would happen if any company applied for planning permission and was turned down. It is a high test, which I think Lord McEwan made clear. Nevertheless, he went on to say that the,

“test is applicable, the fair minded and informed observer must be taken to appreciate that predisposition is not predetermination”.

But evidence of predetermination might be relevant.

I had better stop there because one never knows when one might find oneself having to go down that path. In saying this, I hope I can give some assurance that the Government believe that the balance in the Scotland Act is right. As I have indicated, the national policy statement, which was ratified last year, provides for enough sites across the United Kingdom for a sufficient build programme going forward for nuclear sites. With these remarks, I hope the noble Lord feels that he has probed successfully. I am afraid that we have taken twice 12 minutes, but it has been a useful debate and I hope that he will withdraw his amendment.

Scotland Bill

Lord O'Neill of Clackmannan Excerpts

Tuesday 6th September 2011 Lords Chamber

[Lord O'Neill of Clackmannan]

My Lords, the case for devolution has been quite adequately presented by the last speaker, in so far as the case for devolution is twofold: first, to stop separatism; and, secondly, to try to bring to the United Kingdom a degree of decentralisation, which our metro-centric country requires. The first attempt that we made at devolution was accepted by the Scottish people and by the Welsh people—by a smaller majority but now, I think, embraced by them—and was subsequently embraced by the people of Northern Ireland as well, but after a time we have to pause and reflect. It is fair to say that, after the 2007 election, not only did we pause and reflect in Scotland but we tried to find a means of stopping the progress of the SNP. The Calman report, and indeed this Bill in its embryonic form as it was in the Commons, has singularly failed to do that. It has failed because, frankly, to use an old Scots expression, it is “cauld kale het up”. There are bits of this and that, but at the end of the day the whole is probably less than the sum of its parts. Probably our task here will be to try and bring some degree of importance and significance to it.

One of the problems that decentralisation in the United Kingdom has had is that we failed to decentralise anything in England. It has been fashionable this evening to agree now and again with the noble Lord, Lord Forsyth, about his remarks on taxation, but I would like to pay tribute to the noble Lord because nobody did more to pave the way for devolution in Scotland than he did by reforming Scottish local government into single-tier—and, I think, daft—authorities. Between the two of them—I know it would be wrong to deny his colleague a little praise as well—by creating single-tier local government in Scotland, they removed the biggest obstacle that many of us confronted when we were supporting devolution in 1978 and 1979. That is that, having had what we considered to be a most rational form of local government reform just introduced, we were then confronted by these councillors being extremely reluctant to give up what they considered to be quite important powers at that time. Given the manner in which the over-centralised Forsyth regime and the Lang administration—he also must claim some credit and blame for this—sought to reform Scottish local government, between the two of them these arch-unionists paved the way for Scottish devolution. I only wish that we had had, in the shape of my noble friend Lord Prescott, the then Labour Minister, someone with a wee bit more savvy about what local government involves and the—in many respects understandable—reluctance of local authorities to give up power, or as someone said, for turkeys to vote for Christmas. We are talking about decentralisation of Scottish powers but in a UK context, in which there is still a very overcentralised system of government within England. That makes a difficulty for us.

In a Second Reading debate like this, one only picks out bits and pieces of the process, but it is clear that if we are going to have some form of plebiscite on Scottish separatism it has to have a legal basis that will give it some form of legitimacy. It is therefore important that at some stage in our consideration of the Bill we look at amendments that state clearly that it is a reserved power of this place and that you do not break up the United Kingdom with some ragbag referendum organised by the SNP in Scotland. I put the matter in these rather dismissive terms because I do not trust that party to get the wording right, I do not think it will conduct a referendum in such a way that it will meet all the requirements of decent electoral law and I am not convinced that it will not try to hold it on an unsuitable date—although it certainly will not coincide with any Scottish sporting triumph.

It is unfortunate that many of us today were denied the opportunity to see Scotland win 1-0 in a historic victory over Lithuania. If the managers of this place had any sense of what we were doing, they would not have had this debate on a major sporting occasion of this character. I phoned up last week and was told that I was the 30th person to make an application to speak. If that fact was known to the Whips Office on Thursday and Friday, even the Nobel laureates who normally people whips offices might have been able to understand that this might be a rather long debate. At 11.10 at night, this is stretching the good will of a lot of people—not that I am worried about being late in the debate, but debates in this place should finish at 10 pm and we should come back the next day or we should start earlier and have the debates at appropriate times. That is as may be, though—we can return to that at our leisure in Committee and look at these matters in greater detail.

The Calman commission was very good about the powers and, after a fashion, about the tax-raising powers, but it did not look at the composition of the Scottish Parliament and it was indifferent to the constitutional changes that have quite correctly followed as a consequence of devolution. Scotland was overrepresented in the Westminster Parliament post 1707 because we gave up a Parliament to join the United Kingdom. The fact is that we have not seen any change in the number of Members of the Scottish Parliament—129 of them—regardless of the fact that there are now probably going to be only around 50 Scottish seats in the other place as a result of the dreadful piece of legislation that has been imposed on us in the form of the AV and constituency reorganisation Bill. There is no reason why we should not have coterminous seats for both Parliaments, with an appropriate reduction in the list system to accommodate the consequences of that. That is something that we could look at.

I had disagreements on this with my dear friend who is sitting next to me when she was Secretary of State. I have to say to my noble friend Lady Liddell that she was wrong then and now we have an opportunity to correct it. Frankly, the Scottish Parliament does not meet many days a week nor as often as we do. As far as I understand what the Members of that Parliament actually have to do, they do not deal with social security, taxation or the anxieties of people who have kids abroad in the Army. There are so many things that the Scottish Parliament is not responsible for that you wonder how its Members can fill in the days in the week that they are there—with some considerable difficulty, it would appear at times, because they do not do the job. Having been a longstanding chair of a committee in this place, which was served remarkably well by incredibly competent staff and produced extremely effective reports, I have looked at some of the reports coming out of the Scottish Parliament and they are akin to an elephant giving birth to a mouse; they seem to have the same gestation period and much the same output.

This Scottish Parliament that people say has been a great success has not increased the efficiency of the health service to any great extent, nor are we convinced that the quality of Scottish education is what we like to think it once was and what it should be in the future. There has been no Parliament that has had the resources of the Scottish Parliament, because of the Barnett formula, without any of the pain of raising taxes. Even with the powers of tax raising envisaged by the Calman report, it is frankly not very impressive. As a democratic socialist, I believe that the purpose of the tax system is not only to raise money to facilitate expenditure but also to improve social justice. Perhaps when we get to that point in Committee, we will see whether or not it is possible to vary the level of taxation within each band. We could, for example, have 50p plus 3p on the top grade, 2p on the second and perhaps leave the standard rate as it is so as to have a little bit of redistribution through the tax system. That is one of the purposes that some of us regard the tax system to have. I think that Calman was grossly deficient here. I realise, however, that when trying to get a committee to produce a consensual report, this is a consequence.

The noble Lord, Lord Forsyth, and I were never political friends but we were neighbours of a polite kind—we never looked into each other’s gardens, but he had the constituency next to mine. However, the people who drive through Clackmannan and the bits of Stirlingshire that he did not represent certainly seem to have much the same attitude towards the taxation of motorists that I have encountered. Frankly, I do not think anybody is going to get greatly excited about speed limits and fining people. People are very irritated by these things: if it is more complicated when you go south of Berwick or north of Carlisle, then life becomes more complicated. I do not think that will give us any greater sense of national feeling or diminish our resentment or support for Westminster. When they were casting around for other bits and pieces to throw into the pot, they thought of this. That is one of the criticisms I have of Calman. I understand the task that he and the members had: they had to produce something but, ironically, it was too late and at the end of the day I do not think it is going to make a great deal of difference.

If we want to make a difference and if we want to do things better, we have to address the challenge of decentralisation. We have to look at the issue of social injustice, which, in view of all the resources that the Scottish Parliament has had, it has done precious little about, either under Labour or under alleged social democratic nationalist parties. There are things that we could still try to do in this respect, but I do not think they will necessarily come from an all-party consensual group such as Calman. I realise that there are advantages in having such a group every so often. This, however, is not a major constitutional change but a tinkering at the edges—a tweaking here and there. We will probably spend a disproportionate amount of time looking at it. I know the lawyers have already made a bid for the Supreme Court, which will take up a couple of days and one or two important votes. There will be all the other bits—the guns mob will be in, and Charlton Heston mark 2 will come across to tell us what to do.

At the end of the day, we have to take on the challenge of nationalism and separatism with a far more clear and consistent programme, whether it is one of right-wing conservatism or what I regard as the kind of sensible social democratic views to which many of us on these Benches subscribe. There are choices available to the Scottish people, but one thing that is quite clear is that changing the boundaries of our country will not solve any economic or social problems. The record of nationalism and separatism is very patchy when it comes to smooth transitions. We have seen what happened in the Czech Republic and Slovakia but, sadly, that is one of the rare exceptions.

In the present economic climate, with the difficulties that we have, I am not sure that we could necessarily achieve a major constitutional transition of the character that is envisaged by the separatists in the United Kingdom, particularly the Scottish separatists. Therefore, we have to find more effective ways of taking them on than this Bill. The Bill will, perhaps, make the Scottish Parliament a little more efficient, but it will not address the other challenge that devolution has to face—the challenge of separatism. We need far more good government, effective policy-making and proper advocacy of social and economic objectives. Those may well be different across this House but they would provide the Scottish people with choices, which, at the moment, the nationalists do not offer. The incompetence, in large measure, of the other parties has allowed the nationalists to have free run in these past months and has given them a majority that many of us resent bitterly, while recognising that it seems to be the will of an awful lot of Scottish people and that we must persuade them to the contrary.

Parliamentary Voting System and Constituencies Bill

Lord O'Neill of Clackmannan Excerpts

Thursday 20th January 2011 Lords Chamber

[Lord Dubs]

I am grateful to both my noble friends. I think that I understand it now. I am sorry that I did not do so before, but it is the time of the night.

[Lord O'Neill of Clackmannan]

Before my noble friend leaves this point, is it not the case that it would not be impossible—unless this amendment was passed—for Argyll and Bute to be linked to a constituency in Northern Ireland? After all, until fairly recently there was a short ferry service between Argyll and the Mull of Kintyre and the north of Ireland. Therefore, this is not beyond the bounds of possibility. The draconian powers with which the Boundary Commission will be endowed would enable it to play ducks and drakes with all parts of these islands. While it might be mutually beneficial for Scotland and Northern Ireland and a number of areas to get closer, it is not necessary for them to enjoy the same parliamentary constituencies. Without this amendment, we might well have that.

[Lord Foulkes of Cumnock]

I am grateful to my noble friend. I know a lot about the Ballycastle to Campbeltown ferry, which my former honourable friend Brian Wilson tried to reinstate. When the noble Baroness, Lady Liddell of Coatdyke, was Secretary of State and I was Minister of State at the Scotland Office, we also tried to reinstate it, with some difficulty.

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[Lord Foulkes of Cumnock]

Anything else you would like to say while you are at it?

[Lord O'Neill of Clackmannan]

That is why she is so bad tempered.

[Lord Foulkes of Cumnock]

There is a very simple way that the noble Baroness could have stopped me telling these anecdotes. She could have a word with the noble Lord, Lord Shutt of Greetland. I think I have finished.