Business of the House

Debate between Stuart Andrew and Tommy Sheppard

Thursday 10th September 2020 Commons Chamber

[Stuart Andrew]

My right hon. Friend is absolutely right to express the strength of feeling that many people in all parts of this House feel about the issue. I will of course pass on his concerns to my right hon. Friend the Chancellor. There has been extensive debate about this in the House, and we had long debates about it in the Finance Bill, of course, but it may be an opportune moment to make an application to the Backbench Business Committee, which hopefully could provide time for further discussion.

[Tommy Sheppard (Edinburgh East) (SNP)]

I also wish the Leader of the House and his family well. I can hardly hide my disappointment at his absence. After five long months of my absence from this Chamber and the sometimes problematic communication through the virtual proceedings, I have been looking forward to being patronised in the flesh, rather than over the internet.

To be serious, coming back here, I have been able to see at first hand, with my own eyes, the procedures that have been implemented in the House as regards the covid epidemic. I pay tribute to the staff and management of the building for what they have done. Just one thing seems incongruous, and that is the way in which we continue to vote in Divisions of this Chamber.

That brings me to the report of the Procedure Committee published this morning, which recommends, having considered the matter in great detail, that we should return to the electronic remote voting system we had at the beginning of the pandemic. That was not only efficient and secure but, most importantly, is safe and does not require Members to be in close proximity to each other. I therefore ask the Government, will they respond to that report before the beginning of November, when the current procedures run out? I think they should do so as a matter of urgency.

Secondly, I raise the question of the so-called internal market Bill, which will dominate our proceedings over the next couple of weeks. We should be explicit that the Bill represents the most concerted and full-frontal assault on the devolution settlement in the United Kingdom that there has ever been. Under the guise of securing common standards, there will in effect be a race to the bottom and a lowest common denominator approach to consumer and environmental protection. It is completely unacceptable.

To crown it all, clause 46 of that Bill makes provision for this Chamber—not the Scottish Parliament—to determine spending priorities on matters that are devolved. Pet projects of the UK Cabinet could therefore trump the wishes of the Scottish people when it comes to spending. Is it the intention of the Government to proceed with this legislation without the consent of the devolved Administrations? If it is, what is the point of those devolved Administrations in the first place?

The Government are insulting the concept of devolution. This will be a better recruiting sergeant for the cause of political independence for Scotland that anyone on the SNP Benches could ever be, so I caution the Government to be wary of that. I am out of time, Mr Speaker, so I will reserve my other points for my next appearance.

[Stuart Andrew]

It did not take long for me to disappoint someone, did it? However, it is a pleasure to see the hon. Gentleman’s cheerful face in public and live.

The hon. Gentleman made a point about the Procedure Committee. Let us be frank: we are not in the full lockdown position that we were in when remote voting was taking place. Remote voting also had its issues, with Members of this House having issues connecting. I can honestly say to the right hon. Member for Walsall South (Valerie Vaz) that, as Whip, I know full well how hard it was to get some of my flock connected to the system. The system we have is working as best it can in difficult circumstances.

The hon. Gentleman then came on to the issue of the internal market Bill—again, SNP Members cannot help themselves but peddle the myth that we are having a race to the bottom. Nothing could be further from the truth. We want to take this opportunity, as an independent sovereign country, to go around the globe seeking the best trade deals that we can get. As for this constant gripe about a power grab, there are 70 competences coming from Brussels back to the United Kingdom, many of which will go to Edinburgh, Cardiff and Belfast. This is not a power grab. If anything, it is a power surge for the devolved Administrations. I would like to confirm that we will, of course, be seeking legislative consent from the devolved legislatures and will continue to work closely with them to understand and respond to any concerns that they have.