Scotland Act 1998: Section 35 Power

Debate between Alison Thewliss and Alister Jack

Tuesday 17th January 2023 Commons Chamber

[Mr Jack]

Well, it is. It is also about protecting the devolution settlement and two UK-wide Acts.

[Alison Thewliss (Glasgow Central) (SNP)]

I have been contacted by Mackenzie, an inspirational woman I met recently in my constituency. She says:

“I did not choose to be trans. I did not choose to have my rights taken away, and I certainly did not choose to have my life up for debate from people who don’t even know or empathise with my community.”

Can the Secretary of State tell me why, in the absence of the UK doing anything whatsoever about improving trans rights, he is standing in the way of the Scottish Government making progress?

[Mr Jack]

First of all, of course we respect and support the trans community. If the hon. Lady wants to raise specific issues, the Minister for Women and Equalities is very happy to have a meeting with her.

Scottish Referendum Legislation: Supreme Court Decision

Debate between Alison Thewliss and Alister Jack

Wednesday 23rd November 2022 Commons Chamber

[Mr Jack]

The hon. Gentleman will be disappointed with my answer, which is that I refer him to the remarks I made earlier.

[Alison Thewliss (Glasgow Central) (SNP)]

In 2014, the people of Glasgow voted for independence, and I am sure that if the question were put before them again, they would do so again. But we are not in 2014. Does the Secretary of State accept that democracy did not exist only on 18 September 2014? Democracy is a living thing. Does he accept that the people have the right to change their mind?

[Mr Jack]

The people of Glasgow did vote for independence in 2014, as did three other local authorities in Scotland. However, the other 28 out of 32 voted to remain in the United Kingdom.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Alison Thewliss and Alister Jack

Wednesday 16th November 2022 Commons Chamber

[Alison Thewliss (Glasgow Central) (SNP)]

12. What assessment his Department has made of the impact of the reduction in the Scottish block grant on devolved finances.

[The Secretary of State for Scotland (Mr Alister Jack)]

Scottish National party Members may want independence, but they certainly do not have independence of thought. The UK Government are providing the Scottish Government with a record block grant settlement of £41 billion a year over the next three years. That is the highest spending review settlement since the advent of devolution, and I hope that the SNP will join me in welcoming that, although I will not hold my breath.

--- Later in debate ---

[Alison Thewliss]

Anti-poverty groups such as the Joseph Rowntree Foundation and the Child Poverty Action Group have praised the Scottish Government for expanding and trebling the Scottish child payment—a watershed moment for tackling poverty in Scotland. Families in Scotland now get £100 every four weeks for each child up to the age of 16, which will have a significant impact. Instead of trying to hamstring such positive anti-poverty activity by cutting the block grant, will the Secretary of State increase spending for Scotland so that we can put it into the pockets of needy families hammered by Tory austerity?

[Mr Jack]

There has been an increase. As a Barnett consequential, there is an extra £82 million coming to Scotland this year through the household support fund. As a result of the rates cut in England, there is an extra £296 million coming this year. We have devolved some of those benefits, so it is the Scottish Government’s choice how they spend that money.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Alison Thewliss and Alister Jack

Wednesday 16th March 2022 Commons Chamber

[Mr Jack]

Everyone who cares about Scotland’s prosperity will welcome the additional UK Government investment of up to £52 million, on top of the massive tax and customs benefits to the Scottish economy, drawing in more private sector investment. I would have thought that all parties in Scotland would have welcomed the opportunities and jobs that will flow from the new freeports in Scotland. However, sadly the Scottish Greens, the SNP Government’s coalition partners, oppose them, which shows how irresponsible it was for Mrs Sturgeon to invite a party so opposed to economic growth to join her in government.

[Alison Thewliss (Glasgow Central) (SNP)]

Freeports around the world have long had an association with tax dodging and economic crime. In light of the Government’s responsibility to bring forward an economic crime Bill No. 2, will they review their freeports policy?

[Mr Jack]

That is an utterly ridiculous question. I received a letter from a Scottish Government Minister saying that freeports were a “tarnished brand” reminiscent of smuggling and tax evasion, just before they signed up to our policy.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Alison Thewliss and Alister Jack

Wednesday 11th November 2020 Commons Chamber

[Mr Jack]

We have invested more than £230 million in manufacturing any successful vaccine. The vaccines have been procured and paid for by the UK Government on behalf of everyone in the United Kingdom. Doses will be distributed fairly and across all parts of the United Kingdom according to population share.

[Alison Thewliss (Glasgow Central) (SNP)]

A business operator in my constituency contacted me four days before furlough was supposed to end. He operates two bars in my constituency. As a responsible employer, he had kept on his 44 staff and taken on the debt from bounce back loans, but he was absolutely at the end of his tether with this Government and their last-minute decisions. Will the Secretary of State apologise to that business operator in my constituency for the severe stress that the Government’s dithering has caused him and for the distress that it has caused his employees, as well as to the many people who could not keep on their staff or who lost their jobs due to this Government’s incompetence?

[Mr Jack]

The hon. Lady will recognise that this is a dynamic and unprecedented situation, and we have to take decisions as we see what is in front of us. The employers of those who lost their jobs after 23 September, but were in employment and furlough up until 23 September, are allowed to bring those employees back and put them on furlough.

Finance (No. 2) Bill

Debate between Alison Thewliss and Alister Jack

2nd reading: House of Commons
Monday 11th December 2017 Commons Chamber

[Mr Alister Jack (Dumfries and Galloway) (Con)]

Thank you, Madam Deputy Speaker. I will shorten my words accordingly.

I would like to congratulate the Chancellor of the Exchequer on proving that he can do a lot of good with what is, at 184 pages, a relatively—I stress the word “relatively”—short Finance Bill. While the Bill is short on sheer word count, it is certainly not short on provisions that will help to make both Scotland and the United Kingdom fairer and more prosperous places to live. For example, as my hon. Friend the Member for Ayr, Carrick and Cumnock (Bill Grant) has said, the Bill gives effect to the announcement in the Budget that the UK Government will clear up the Scottish National party’s mess and create a special exemption from VAT for Police Scotland and the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service. That special exemption has had to be made because of the stubbornness and incompetence of the Scottish Government, who pressed ahead with the centralisation of Scotland’s police and fire services even though they knew that the way in which they were conducting that centralisation would cost those services their VAT exemption.

[Alison Thewliss]

Is the hon. Gentleman aware of the extensive correspondence on the Scottish Government’s website that provides evidence of the Scottish Government’s efforts to persuade colleagues down the road here that the exemption was valid? If the exemption in the Budget for combined authorities in England and Wales is valid now, surely Scotland’s fire and rescue services are due their £140 million back.

[Mr Jack]

This House made it clear at the time that if the Scottish Government went ahead with the centralisation, they would not be able to reclaim the VAT. It is no good the SNP having a grievance and looking back to claim that £140 million when Budgets are clearly forward-looking and we have to be responsible for the public finances. However, we have now sorted that problem out.