Angus Robertson
Main Page: Angus Robertson (Scottish National Party - Moray)Department Debates - View all Angus Robertson's debates with the Leader of the House
Devolution and the Union
Angus Robertson Excerpts(9 years, 5 months ago)
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Angus Robertson (Moray) (SNP)
I congratulate colleagues on securing the debate. Something that has gone unmentioned so far in these proceedings is the fact that this is an historic day for Scotland, the Scottish National party and Nicola Sturgeon, Scotland’s new First Minister. She is our first female First Minister. For colleagues who had the opportunity to see First Minister’s questions today, they would have seen a remarkably talented politician, and I, along with many others from across the Chamber, wish her well. Perhaps ours is the only Parliament in the world that has the three largest parties being represented by women from the Front Bench.
Sheila Gilmore (Edinburgh East) (Lab)
I fully agree that that is a step forward. I hope that the hon. Gentleman will want to endorse the 50:50 campaign to improve the representation of women in political and public life.
Angus Robertson
I am a great supporter of the representation of both men and women, and feel that there should be no glass ceiling. I am more than happy to look at any way that helps to secure that.
Angus Robertson
I am still only in my introductory remarks. It is also important on such an historic day to pay tribute to Alex Salmond on his leadership of the Scottish National party and his premiership as First Minister, both in minority and majority Governments, and for delivering free education in Scotland and the independence referendum.
Dr Julian Lewis (New Forest East) (Con)
I do indeed pay tribute to Alex Salmond who is a very considerable figure. By resigning, he seems to have recognised the outcome of the referendum. If the referendum had voted yes, that would have settled the issue for all time. Does the SNP accept that by voting no, it has settled the issue at least for a generation?
Angus Robertson
I was coming on to make the point that the Scottish National party and the Scottish Government continue to believe that Scotland should, and will in the future, be independent. However, we accept both the result of the referendum on 18 September and the fact that independence will not be the outcome of the Smith commission. What is beyond doubt is that the people of Scotland expect early and substantial change. I am not talking about something that is dependent on English votes for English laws—much as I have sympathy with that as an issue—the West Lothian question or the subsidy argument, from which many people in Scotland will recoil.
Angus Robertson
Forgive me, I have already taken interventions and want to make some progress. It is likely that I will be the only Member who speaks on behalf of the 1.6 million people who voted yes for independence in the referendum.
What is beyond doubt is that the people of Scotland expect early and substantial change—change that will give the Scottish Parliament the further powers and responsibilities that it needs to tackle the challenges facing Scotland in a way that responds to the views and votes of people in Scotland. That is what was promised in the referendum campaign, and it is what people now expect to be delivered without any conditions.
Angus Robertson
The hon. Gentleman talks about political parties not making progress. May I draw his attention to the fact that the Scottish National party now has more members in Scotland than the Labour party, the Liberal Democrats and the Conservative party put together? It is currently polling more than 45%, and his party will be reduced to a rump in the general election, which is what it deserves for going into coalition with a party that people in Scotland did not vote for.
Angus Robertson
No, I will not take an intervention.
The Scottish Government have set out their approach to delivering progress. They propose maximum self-government within the Union. Others would describe this as devo-max, as we have heard already, home rule or perhaps even federalism. The SNP and the Scottish Government argue that further devolution should be underpinned by clear principles. It must respect the sovereignty of the people of Scotland and enhance the financial and democratic accountability of governance in Scotland. As part of this, the Scottish Parliament should have the ability to devolve power further to local communities and authorities. It should transform the ability of the Scottish Parliament and Government to meet the challenges they face and, in particular, enable Scotland to be a more prosperous country, to be a fairer and more equal society, and to have a stronger voice in the EU and internationally on matters within devolved competence. It should be equitable and transparent in its approach to resources, risks and rewards, including arrangements for Scotland to have access to taxes raised in Scotland with transitional or residual transfers of resources based on the current Barnett formula.
The Scottish Government have set out their proposals for extending self-government in Scotland consistent with those principles to deliver full fiscal responsibility for the Scottish Parliament with all tax revenues being retained in Scotland. The Scottish Parliament should have policy responsibility for all taxes unless there is a specific reason for a continued reservation. In particular, the Scottish Parliament should have full autonomy for income tax, national insurance, corporation tax, capital gains tax, fuel duty, air passenger duty and inheritance tax. The Scottish Parliament should be responsible for all domestic expenditure, including welfare, and should make payments to the UK Government for reserved or shared services. The Scottish Parliament should have a sustainable framework for public finances, including the necessary borrowing powers and an agreement with the UK Government on the overall approach to public finances. Our view is that as a part of any agreement the Barnett formula should continue to be used to determine Scotland’s resources.
Margaret Curran (Glasgow East) (Lab)
Following on from the logic of the hon. Gentleman’s argument, may I ask that his party respect the Smith commission when it reaches its conclusions next week?
Angus Robertson
We are respectful of the Smith process and I await the outcome of the commission. I look forward with great optimism to its proposals being those for which we would all wish.
Scotland should get the financial benefits as well as having the tools to manage the risks of its new responsibilities, and the Scottish Government’s responsibility for all welfare policy and administration should be devolved. As a priority, that should involve all working-age benefits. In the meantime, the roll-out of universal credit and the personal independence payment in Scotland should be halted to ensure that the practical ability to devolve individual benefits is not compromised.
Employment and employability policy, including responsibility for setting the minimum wage and all employability programmes, should also be devolved. Equal opportunities and the equality policy should be devolved. I could go on, because there are many further powers that should be devolved, and that is not just the view of the Scottish National party. The public have been asked about them in a range of academic studies and a series of polls, and it is important that Members are aware of the strength of feeling on these matters.
Angus Robertson
I have not even read out the statistics yet. I ask the hon. Gentleman to wait to hear them.
In the most recent survey, conducted by Panelbase, 71% of respondents said that they wanted control of all taxation raised in Scotland, 66% wanted control of all areas of Government policy except defence and foreign affairs, which is sometimes referred to as devo-max, 75% wanted control of welfare and benefits, 65% wanted control of policy on the state pension, and 68% wanted control over oil, gas and tax revenues generated in Scottish waters. The list goes on.
Rory Stewart
On that point, 55% of the Scottish population expressed their wish not to have independence. Will the hon. Gentleman tell us the minimum time that he will guarantee will elapse before another referendum on independence? Is it 20 years?
Angus Robertson
I hope that the hon. Gentleman and I agree that such a question will be posed when the people wish it to be posed. The result was not the one that I wanted. It was a no and I am sorry about that. I would have wanted Scotland to be negotiating progress towards independence, but it is not happening now. However, I believe that it will happen in the future when the people wish it to happen.
I have very little time in which to conclude, but let me say that there should be no conditionality on what was promised in the vow. It should be delivered in full and it should not be tied to English votes for English laws or to the Barnett issue, and for that reason we will oppose the motion.
Mr Graham Allen (Nottingham North) (Lab)
If you believe as I do, Madam Deputy Speaker, that the United Kingdom should continue for another 100 or perhaps 200 years, it needs to be built on two solid principles. The first principle is union and the second is devolution. Without those two in tandem, the United Kingdom will be under threat. It is important that we examine the motion before us today in those terms. I suspect that we are not taking devolution as seriously as we should if all that we are talking about is votes on the West Lothian question or the Barnett formula. There is a bigger agenda. Devolution is diminished if we talk only about those two issues. They are a couple of per cent. of devolution for most of us, and for most of us in England, too. Scotland has rightly had a lot of air time, a lot of legislative time and a referendum, but now it is time for England to come to the devolution party, and that is what I want to talk about today.
The Liaison Committee met this morning, and we had in front of us the Prime Minister. The subject was devolution. There were times during that discussion when I felt that the Prime Minister was too chilled out for his own good about devolution. There was a lack of urgency. It was almost as if the problem had been resolved because a referendum had taken place in Scotland. He used expressions such as, “We need to settle this down now,” or, “There is no need to rush these things.” The Scottish referendum was important inside Scotland of course, but outside it allowed us to realise what we could do with a level of engagement and participation that should excite us all given some of the threats to our broader political system in the Union. There are risks.
It is only eight or nine weeks since there was a 400,000-vote difference between Scotland staying in the Union and the Union dissolving. That was just a few weeks ago, yet some of us seem to act as if the problem is over and everything is back to normal, and we have gone back to our default position. Similarly, 23 million people did not participate in the last general election. That is more than the Labour and Conservative vote added together. To imagine that there are not risks and problems in our political system that need to be addressed and can be partially addressed, even largely addressed, by devolution is a dream.
Also since the general election we have seen the rise of an extreme right-wing party. It is polling up to 25% of the popular vote in opinion polls. These are serious issues that can be addressed at least in part and often in large part by giving power back to people, by engaging them in the political system, by involving them and by ensuring that they feel they own their democracy rather than want to vote for an apolitical party.
As for the West Lothian question, it seems strange that the very thing that led to a lot of people being turned off politics and lured by separatism is replaced in our thinking by something that is relatively small beer. It is a Standing Orders question. It is a Westminster-bubble question. I am sorry that the Prime Minister, after this fantastic adventure in democracy in Scotland, was on the doorstep of No. 10 Downing street as the ink on the result was barely dry, talking about English votes for English laws rather than the possibilities of further devolution for the rest of the United Kingdom. Let us deal with the West Lothian question but see it for the relatively small issue it is in the broader aspect of devolution.
On the Barnett formula, of course there will have to be a method of equalisation and redistribution of some description. We are a family of nations and we need to look after each other, just as we do in equalisation in local government.
Angus Robertson
On the family of nations, I am sure that the hon. Gentleman will agree that taking Scotland and the rest of the United Kingdom out of the European Union would be a bad thing. Does he think it is right that all four nations in the UK should have a safeguard on membership—a double majority—should that case be put? One member of a family dictating to the family would be unacceptable, would it not?
Mr Allen
I suspect that the hon. Gentleman, as someone who tried to leave the family of nations, does not speak with quite the authority he may think he has.
What about the positive things we need to address in terms of devolution? It is key—we often say this in the Chamber—that we address the sclerotic over-centralisation of the United Kingdom, particularly with regard to Whitehall. In the big family of nations, we are probably the third most over-centralised nation of the western democracies. Albania is worse than us—that is an obvious example—and, of course, the SNP’s Scotland is also massively over-centralised, sucking up powers on a daily basis. We can hear that slurping sound of local autonomy being sucked into Holyrood, which makes it a highly centralised nation.