Draft Scotland Act 2016 and Wales Act 2017 (Onshore Petroleum) (Consequential Amendments) Regulations 2018

Patrick Grady Excerpts

Monday 4th June 2018 General Committees

[Patrick Grady (Glasgow North) (SNP)]

It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Sir Henry.

The Scottish National party is happy to support the statutory instrument. We are always happy to support the devolution of more powers to the Scottish Parliament. As the Minister said, the draft regulations help to implement the agreement undertaken as part of the Smith commission, which some saw as the fulfilment of the vow that was made during the independence referendum, although we read in the papers today that not everyone thought the vow was such a good idea. They relate to onshore oil and gas extraction and, although they are not explicitly related to unconventional extraction, it is worth putting on the record that both the Scottish Government and the Scottish Parliament have made their position very clear. We oppose the development of unconventional oil and gas in Scotland. If any of the consequences of these draft regulations help to deliver that, that will be well received by the Government, the Parliament and the population as a whole.

I appreciate, as the Minister says, that they are largely technical and consequential amendments. We welcome the moves to bring them forward. I echo the Labour spokesperson’s comments about when and how they will be applied to Wales. We are always very happy to support enhanced powers for the Welsh Assembly. It is nice to find a bit of consensus for once.