Scotland Bill

Andrew Bridgen Excerpts

Monday 9th November 2015 Commons Chamber

[Mr Allen]

I am sure that the Chair would call me to order if I answered my hon. Friend’s very pertinent question, but I know that he will make that point and many others when he is called to speak.

New clause 8 is about defining. It is all very well to sit in Holyrood handing out little bits of largesse here and there, but that is exactly what Whitehall and Westminster do to everyone else. The Scottish people have suffered from that as much as the English people have. One way to get round that is to define the competences of local government and national Government in such a way that no one will be able to unpick the idea, whenever it suits them, that power should be devolved beyond Holyrood or Westminster. Unless that principle is clearly entrenched, the lure of power from the centre—be it Holyrood or Westminster—and the temptation to tell people what to do will be too strong.

New clause 8 proposes that people who want to engage in this debate should sit down and discuss with their local government—wherever it might be—what it is appropriate for local government to do. I do not believe that Scotland, England, Wales or Northern Ireland should be immune from that idea, because otherwise they will find that power gets sucked back up. Some of my friends in Scotland are telling me that power there is becoming ever more centralised. No doubt that will be a matter of debate, but that is what people are saying. Perhaps the easiest way round that is not to say, “Oh yes, but we are very nice to people. We are benign and we give them a little bit more money here and there”, but to allow the people, the drivers who produced devolution in Scotland, to produce devolution lower down than Holyrood.

[Andrew Bridgen (North West Leicestershire) (Con)]

The hon. Gentleman talks about devolving power. As everyone in the Chamber knows, money is power. Will he therefore applaud the Conservative Government for devolving the retention of business rates locally? That policy has been devolved to the Scottish Government and it is now being mimicked there.

Scotland Bill

Andrew Bridgen Excerpts

Monday 8th June 2015 Commons Chamber

[David Mundell]

It will depend on the policies that are pursued in the Scottish Parliament. For example, were my colleague Ruth Davidson to become First Minister of Scotland, we would see taxes reduced in Scotland, which I think would have a positive effect in Northern Ireland, because it would be an incentive to see business done in a compatible manner. But devolution is about taking decisions in the Scottish Parliament, the Welsh Assembly and the Northern Ireland Assembly, and increasingly in different parts of England.

[Andrew Bridgen (North West Leicestershire) (Con)]

Does my right hon. Friend agree that, at a time when we are devolving more powers to Scotland and other parts of the United Kingdom, we also need a fair and equitable settlement for the people of England, starting with English votes for English laws?

[David Mundell]

As my hon. Friend is aware, that proposal was in the Conservative party manifesto and it will be brought to this Parliament. [Interruption.] I think we have concluded on the issue of what devolution means throughout the United Kingdom.

The Conservative-led coalition Government passed the Scotland Act 2012—the biggest single transfer of fiscal responsibility to Edinburgh in 300 years. They also oversaw significant further devolution to Wales and Northern Ireland, as well as groundbreaking work on city deals and a step change across England with the work towards the creation of the northern powerhouse. The Bill before the House today represents a further step forward in the governance of Scotland and our United Kingdom.

The settled will of the Scottish people is now that Scotland should remain part of the United Kingdom. As such, this Bill demonstrates the Government’s determination that the Scottish Parliament should be made more powerful, more accountable yet autonomous, and better equipped to serve the people of Scotland. It is the fulfilment of our manifesto commitment that the all-party Smith commission agreement should be implemented in full. The fact that the Bill was introduced on the first day after the Queen’s Speech and that its Second Reading is taking place at the first opportunity since the general election speaks volumes for the Government’s determination to honour that manifesto commitment and get on with the job.

Smith Commission

Andrew Bridgen Excerpts

Thursday 27th November 2014 Commons Chamber

[Mr Carmichael]

I fully accept that the hon. Gentleman wants independence and always has done. That is why we had a vote. It pains me to tell him that he lost, however, and it is about time that he and his party came to terms with that. For him to try to use this process to get independence by the back door does not respect the views of the Scottish people as expressed on 18 September. It is perhaps about time that he thought he has a duty to speak for the 60.19% of his own constituents who rejected independence on 18 September.

[Andrew Bridgen (North West Leicestershire) (Con)]

In the fall-out from the recent Scottish referendum—in which only people in Scotland had a vote, but the people of England, Wales and Northern Ireland were bound by the result—the Scottish nationalists now object even to the prospect of a UK-wide referendum on our membership of the European Union, claiming that Scotland would be bound by the British consensus. Does my right hon. Friend detect, as I do, more than a whiff of tartan hypocrisy in this stance?

[Mr Carmichael]

I suspect, Mr Speaker, that if I used the word “hypocrisy” you would call me back into order, and for that reason I do not use it.

Oral Answers to Questions

Andrew Bridgen Excerpts

Wednesday 19th March 2014 Commons Chamber

[Mel Stride (Central Devon) (Con)]

5. What recent discussions he has had with the Scottish Government on the prospect of a currency union with an independent Scotland.

[Andrew Bridgen (North West Leicestershire) (Con)]

6. What recent discussions he has had with the Scottish Government on the prospect of a currency union with an independent Scotland.

[Mark Menzies (Fylde) (Con)]

8. What recent discussions he has had with the Scottish Government on the prospect of a currency union with an independent Scotland.

--- Later in debate ---

[Mr Carmichael]

Indeed. If Scotland made herself a foreign country to the rest of the United Kingdom, there would be no question of the Bank of England and the taxpayers who underpin it continuing to stand behind banks headquartered in that foreign country. That simply does not happen. As we have already explained, a number of financial services and banking companies north of the border have rightly identified that as a risk to their continued future governance.

[Andrew Bridgen]

Following the First Minister’s admission at the weekend that his own fiscal commission working group is looking at not only a plan B but a plan C, D, E and F, is it not the truth that the Scottish National party can offer no certainty for the people of Scotland about currency provision for an independent Scotland? They cannot keep the pound, because—

[Mr Speaker]

Order. The hon. Gentleman has had his say, but it did not remotely resemble a question.