Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Alister Jack and Martin Docherty-Hughes

Wednesday 22nd February 2023 Commons Chamber

[Mr Speaker]

Order. May I just say to the Secretary of State that Scottish questions are short enough without his taking up all the time?

[Martin Docherty-Hughes]

I thank the governor-general for that long-winded response.

According to a report by the Economics for the Environment Consultancy, lower standards just in chemical regulation, water pollution, air quality and the protection of habitats will cost the British Government £83 billion over the next three decades. Does the Secretary of State believe it is right for Scotland to face yet another billion-pound price tag for a Brexit that it did not vote for?

[Mr Jack]

I do not recognise that analysis. We are respecting and raising environmental standards. Where matters are devolved we respect that, and the Scottish Government are able to deal with those matters under retained EU law as they see fit. Where there is overlap, we have frameworks and we will work together.

Scottish Referendum Legislation: Supreme Court Decision

Debate between Alister Jack and Martin Docherty-Hughes

Wednesday 23rd November 2022 Commons Chamber

[Martin Docherty-Hughes (West Dunbartonshire) (SNP)]

I agree with my hon. and learned Friend the Member for Edinburgh South West (Joanna Cherry), who was clear that this is a legal position by the Supreme Court that I think the entire Chamber welcomes. It is a legal opinion requested by the Scottish Government. My hon. Friend the Member for Dundee West (Chris Law), who is no longer in their place, mentioned a Prime Minister. Does the Secretary of State agree with the former Baroness Thatcher, who said that “as a nation”, Scots

“have an undoubted right to national self-determination”?

The question to Westminster’s man in Scotland is this: does he agree with the former British Prime Minister, Baroness Thatcher, about Scotland’s right to national self- determination, and if he does not, what is he doing in the Scotland Office?

[Mr Jack]

As I have said, less than a third of Scots want another independence referendum. Less than a third of the Scottish electorate voted for the Scottish National party. We just do not recognise this mandate.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Alister Jack and Martin Docherty-Hughes

Wednesday 16th November 2022 Commons Chamber

[Mr Jack]

The hon. Lady and I have this discussion on many occasions, because this is one of the points that she is keenest to make in the Select Committee on Scottish Affairs. She knows the answer, which is that the Scotland Office’s spending on its communications pales into insignificance in comparison with the Scottish Government’s.

[Martin Docherty-Hughes]

The block grant for Scotland covers many of the Government spending priorities that affect the people of Scotland from day to day, such as health, education and local government. However, I am afraid that there are many areas it does not cover, from pensions and most social security to consular services for Scots imprisoned abroad, such as my constituent Jagtar Singh Johal of Dumbarton, who has been arbitrarily detained for five years by the Government of India. We know that the Prime Minister met the Prime Minister of India at the G20 summit. Does the Secretary of State know whether they discussed Jagtar’s detention? If he, as Scotland’s man in the British Cabinet, does not know, why not?

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Alister Jack and Martin Docherty-Hughes

Wednesday 18th May 2022 Commons Chamber

[Mr Jack]

I think my hon. Friend refers to ferries, and he is absolutely right. I think the ferries float. They just cannot seem to finish them or make them work, or find anything that gets close to resembling a ferry.

[Martin Docherty-Hughes (West Dunbartonshire) (SNP)]

During the 2014 independence referendum, the Secretary of State’s Government promised that 12,500 armed forces personnel would be based in Scotland. The current figure is more than 25% below that 2014 promise. With the downward pressure on the armed forces across the board, when will his Government admit that they will never actually meet that target?

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Alister Jack and Martin Docherty-Hughes

Wednesday 8th September 2021 Commons Chamber

[Mr Jack]

I think the hon. Gentleman is requesting a meeting, and I would be happy to meet him. As he knows, the ferry service between Rosyth and Zeebrugge ran from 2002 to 2018, but from 2010 was not a passenger service. We would want any service that comes forward to be economically viable.

[Martin Docherty-Hughes (West Dunbartonshire) (SNP)]

2. What recent assessment his Department has made of the effect of the Misuse of Drugs Act 1971 on health outcomes in Scotland.