Constitutional Law

William Bain Excerpts

Monday 2nd February 2015 Commons Chamber

[Mr William Bain (Glasgow North East) (Lab)]

It is a privilege to speak in this debate as the chair of the Labour Campaign for Electoral Reform, the organisation within the Labour movement that speaks and campaigns for political and constitutional reform. Labour can trace the origins of its commitment to these great causes back to Keir Hardie more than a century ago. It was he who first called for an elected second Chamber and for a powerful home rule Scottish Parliament through strong devolution. I regret we cannot honour the third of his commitments—his strong desire to see the cause of temperance furthered across the UK—but we will honour every element of his commitment to political reform in this modern Labour movement.

Rarely in this House do debates on statutory instruments range beyond the specific matters they address, but this debate signifies two wider forces shaping the future of these islands. First, devolution and good governance across these islands will be strengthened by the delivery, as promised, of the Smith agreement, of which this draft order is the first legislative stage. Secondly, the rights of citizens across the UK demand a new political and constitutional settlement, including: votes at 16; the replacement of the unelected other place by an elected second Chamber; substantial further devolution within England; and making devolution and human rights protection permanent within our constitutional arrangement. It is increasingly clear that the order must be the first stage in generating a codified constitution for the UK to put all these changes beyond the day-to-day conflict of partisan politics. I shall address each point in turn.

The strength of the devolution settlement, originating in the devolution referendum of 1997 and the original Scotland Act 1998, is clear in this evening’s debate. An agreement between five of Scotland’s political parties on transferring powers in connection with the franchise in Scottish parliamentary and local government elections, resulting in the devolution of those powers in law within a matter of weeks, will ensure that 16 and 17-year-olds can vote in next May’s Scottish Parliament elections and in the council elections in Scotland the year after. We are achieving together the progressive cause of extending the right to vote in these elections to tens of thousands of young people in Scotland. This stands as a further testament to the work of the late Donald Dewar in crafting a devolution settlement capable of evolving and meeting popular demand in Scotland, and we will see much more evidence of that in the weeks following the general election this May.

The incredible enthusiasm and level of engagement by 16 and 17-year-olds in last year’s referendum proved all the doubters wrong, so with this draft order today, the Scottish Parliament will have the power—the full powers—to make full post-16 voting rights a reality in devolved elections. I recall speaking to a young man on the doorstep in Riddrie in my constituency on referendum polling day. He expressed with remarkable insight and knowledge the evidence and beliefs that had motivated him to participate at the age of 17 in his first democratic election. How many more young people will become active in their communities and in wider society and stand for elected office themselves because of their experience in the referendum campaign last year?

[Mr Iain McKenzie (Inverclyde) (Lab)]

Many hon. Members, regardless of political party, have made much of continuing that engagement with young people and getting access to our schools in order to discuss with our young people who are about to be 16 the relevance of politics to their lives. We have seen an awakening among young people, so I encourage each and every Member to carry on with that. I am about to meet 100 young people from Inverclyde schools to discuss such matters on Friday.

[Mr Bain]

My hon. Friend makes an important point, and he is a champion of engagement in his own constituency. I hope that will be remembered in Inverclyde in just a few weeks’ time.

All the evidence from Demos and the Electoral Reform Society demonstrates that the earlier young people participate in democracy, the more likely they are to remain voters in the future. Sixteen and 17-year-olds can pay taxes, get married, join the armed forces and act as company directors. It is an absurdity that they have been denied the right to be full members of our vital democratic processes for so long.

This debate reminds us that we have a duty to make it easier for young people to be able to vote, and it is a warning about the effects of the botched introduction of individual voter registration being presided over by this Government. In its present form, it could have the effect of removing the right to vote for thousands of young people in Scotland and across the United Kingdom.

This is indeed a good day for democracy, but not a perfect one. I hope that most right hon. and hon. Members will not rest until votes at 16 are introduced for elections to this House and for the elected Chamber that must replace the unelected other place. I hope leaders at EU level will show boldness in extending the franchise at European parliamentary elections to 16 and 17-year-olds too, offering hope to those currently suffering the most from low wages and high unemployment due to the problems in the eurozone economy.

The order demonstrates that grass-roots campaigns for political reform can bring change in this House and to our country as a whole. Just as the Chartists campaigned for democratic rights, trade unions campaigned for the enfranchisement of working class people and the suffragettes campaigned for the enfranchisement of women, so today’s order is the further realisation of their ambitions for a society where everyone can participate, and where government, at whatever level, is more responsive and accountable to all the people of this country as a result. The British Youth Council has campaigned tirelessly for votes at 16 for years, and today is the first recognition of the justice of its campaign in parliamentary and local government elections. It will not be the last.

The debate on this order shows that the governance of the British state is changing and that the pace of that change must increase in the coming years, so we must see a constitutional convention to produce a coherent plan for devolution in England, recommend proposals for an elected senate, consider how the role of human rights protection can be strengthened within our constitution and explore how all our governance arrangements can be made permanent in a single constitution, binding us all as citizens of the United Kingdom.

These are changes worth fighting for: a modern democratic constitutional settlement that can reflect our common links, but also our diversity across these islands. Today marks the first element of that change, but it also shows us the potential to see what can be if we have the boldness and courage to act early in the next Parliament.

Draft Scotland Clauses

William Bain Excerpts

Thursday 22nd January 2015 Commons Chamber

[David Mundell]

I made that very clear in my previous answers. What I welcome from both hon. Ladies is a willingness to engage in the debate on which MPs should vote on which matters. It is disappointing that the Opposition more widely have not been prepared to engage with the Command Paper and the debate instigated by my right hon. Friend the Leader of the House. Let us have that debate on the governance of England and let us all make our contributions to it.

[Mr William Bain (Glasgow North East) (Lab)]

Can the Minister confirm that, with the proposals before the House today, if the Scottish Parliament chooses to introduce discretionary payments, which would effectively top up even reserve benefits such as unemployment benefit or employment and support allowance, that will be a decision purely for the Scottish Parliament and that this Parliament does not have a veto? Does he agree that these powers would make the Scottish Parliament one of the most extensive welfare Parliaments anywhere in the world?

[David Mundell]

Yes.

Scotland within the UK

William Bain Excerpts

Monday 13th October 2014 Commons Chamber

[Mr Carmichael]

My right hon. and learned Friend is entirely correct about that. This should be something that does more than just affect just the Standing Orders of this House. Indeed, even if it were to be done in that very narrow way, he would, I suspect, be one of the first to remind me that the House guards very jealously, through your office, Mr Speaker, its right to determine its Standing Orders for itself. It has never normally been the practice for Government to lead on these matters.

[Mr William Bain (Glasgow North East) (Lab)]

Does the Secretary of State agree that the Smith commission process will require compromise and good faith from all political parties in Scotland? Does he also agree that in the agreement that comes we must see the sharing of resources across the United Kingdom? Is not that in keeping with the spirit of the way in which the Scottish people voted on 18 September?

[Mr Carmichael]

I think Lord Smith has already made it clear that he is not going to deliver independence by the back door. Whatever proposals he comes up with on St Andrew’s night in relation to further devolution, they will be in the context of there continuing to be a United Kingdom, and the constitutional integrity of the United Kingdom will be respected.

Oral Answers to Questions

William Bain Excerpts

Wednesday 2nd July 2014 Commons Chamber

[David Mundell]

The hon. Gentleman sets a good example, and certainly in apprenticeship schemes offered by Members of Parliament, I support the action he has taken.

[Mr William Bain (Glasgow North East) (Lab)]

14. Seven out of 10 young people in Scotland who are unemployed are applying for benefit for the second time. Is that not testament to the fact that there are simply not enough secure jobs for them that pay the living wage? Why will this Government and their equally bad counterparts in Edinburgh not use the public procurement powers available to them to ensure that every Scottish young person gets the living wage?

[David Mundell]

I would have thought that the hon. Gentleman would welcome the fact that the number of those in the 16 to 19-year-old category in Scotland who are out of work has fallen by 4,000. Work is the way out of poverty, and that is what this Government are encouraging.

Trade and Investment in Scotland

William Bain Excerpts

Tuesday 24th June 2014 Westminster Hall

[Mr William Bain (Glasgow North East) (Lab)]

It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship once again, Mr Hollobone.

I begin by praising the contribution that exporters of services and manufactured goods in Scotland make to our economy and the jobs that they sustain and support. Scotland, as part of the United Kingdom, is an open economy that is welcoming to investment from overseas, but it is also self-confident in expanding its role as a source of exports. When I speak to manufacturers in my constituency, whether Promat, engaged in exporting construction materials to the US and the rest of the EU, or Gaia-Wind, the fastest growing small or medium-sized enterprise in Scotland and the eighth-fastest growing SME in the UK, I see for myself the potential that exists in our country to rebalance our economy as a trading powerhouse and to rebuild our jobs market to grow the construction and skilled manufacturing sectors that suffered hugely in the global downturn from 2008.

I pay tribute to the continuing role that the Scottish Food and Drink Federation plays in growing our export markets. The industry has an annual export turnover exceeding £5.4 billion, employs nearly one in four of the Scottish work force and sustains 1,200 businesses. Four fifths of that contribution was made by whisky exports, which generated £4.3 billion for the Scottish economy last year, with 140 million cases of whisky exported to 200 markets across the globe. There is a good story to tell about how, against the odds in recent years, Scottish manufacturing exports have been an economic success story, growing by 1.9% last year.

Notwithstanding that, whether it is in Piketty symposia in the Houses of Parliament or on the doorsteps of Blackhill, Springburn, Robroyston or Roystonhill in my constituency last weekend, the message is the same: something is wrong in our economy. It is not working as it should, as is shown by its failure to return the effort that people put in at work to their pay cheques at the end of the week or month, and the insecure nature of the jobs that are being generated.

The UK’s balance of trade position, when compared with key EU and non-EU trading partners, has worsened in the past year, with strong performance in financial and other services offset by a weakening in the position on goods. There are important lessons to learn on improving the support that the Government provide to exporters, as well as on the need for certainty about Britain’s place in the world, principally through the pivotal role we play as a member state of the European Union, but also in the decision that people in Scotland will make in just over 90 days’ time: whether or not to remain part of the United Kingdom. I will address each of those in turn.

The most recent economic commentary released by the Fraser of Allander Institute identifies an unbalanced recovery as one of the key threats to the recovery being sustained in Scotland. It confirms that household consumption, through a decline in the savings ratio and the bundling on of more private debt, is driving a large portion of GDP growth. Business investment remains patchy and the prospects for export growth are mixed. Even allowing for the summer’s disruption at Grangemouth, net trade made a negative contribution to Scottish GDP last year in comparison with 2012. With the pound appreciating in value and demand in the eurozone remaining weak, it is clear that the Government, through UK Trade & Investment, should be doing more and working more proactively with small and medium-sized companies to help expand their export markets.

The Fraser of Allander Institute also finds that investment spending stagnated in Scotland in 2012 and 2013. Although confidence among small businesses in Scotland is rising, and the intent to invest more is evident, that is not yet translating into actual higher investment by firms in new plant machinery, research or technology, which are all required if we are to end a low productivity crisis in the Scottish economy. Many exporting manufacturers find access to finance remains among the biggest impediments to expanding their businesses. In a recent round table on finance, to which I contributed, Professor John Kay put forward the argument that since 2008 the pipelines in the financial system by which capital can be invested for productive economic purposes have not been functioning as they should.

We have seen one rabbit after another pulled out of the hat by the Chancellor, but we do not see investment actually rising. If we are to match the record on long-term investment enjoyed by countries like South Korea and Germany, we need to adopt some of their thinking about the pipelines needed to boost investment. The Government should be reforming our banking sector to create a proper infrastructure investment bank, modelled on the successful KfW in Germany, or similar institutions in South Korea and the US, and capable of financing long-term productive business investment. It should draw on the example of the Sparkassen in Germany to create regional banks focused on lending to small and medium-sized enterprises. It is only by constructing proper pipelines for capital that we will we see a long-term expansion in private sector business investment for Scotland and the United Kingdom.

Scotland is second only to London within the UK in its attractiveness for inward investment, but Ernst & Young’s latest survey found that the number of jobs created in the past year was lower than the year before, principally in manufacturing. There is more that this Government and the Scottish Government should be doing together to improve Scotland’s position, particularly in relation to inward investment from emerging economies.

As well as the skills of our work force, among the most important reasons for our strong position on inward investment is our membership of two connected, successful single markets: the United Kingdom and the European Union. Our membership of the EU sustains nearly 4 million jobs in the UK, according to the latest assessment by the CBI, and provides access to and influence over a single market of 500 million people. Our exporters would benefit from a successfully negotiated transatlantic trade and investment partnership because of our position at the heart of Europe. When the Prime Minister launches his increasingly unsuccessful short-term forays into EU diplomacy, for all the short-term defeats that he suffers, he puts at jeopardy long-term investment into this country because of weak leadership on Britain’s opportunities and our destiny within Europe.

Similarly, Scotland at the heart of a reformed United Kingdom is good for our exporters and best for investment. Nearly 340,000 people in Scotland are employed by companies based outside Scotland. Exporters benefit from an unrivalled network of diplomatic and trade links with the United Kingdom, with 270 diplomatic outlets and 169 for trade, compared with only 70 to 90 envisaged by the Scottish Government in their White Paper for independence.

We also enjoy the strength of 29 votes on the Council of the EU, required to drive the changes in fisheries policy that will benefit the fishing industry in Scotland, and we are able to shape decisions on international institutions from the G7 to the World Trade Organisation. WTO membership matters hugely to our exporters, because it guarantees low or no-tariff trade with 170 countries—no ifs, no buts and no need to negotiate individual bilateral trade agreements.

Just imagine if there were a yes vote in September. What would the practical consequences be? If it wanted to be in the EU, Scotland would have to adopt a different currency, creating an immediate barrier to trade and investment from the United Kingdom. The potential loss of hard-won VAT exemptions and zero ratings on food, children’s clothing and books, as part of the conditions for joining the EU as a new member state, would create further barriers for Scottish exporters and investors from elsewhere in these islands. A 1% fall in exports by Scotland to the rest of the UK equates to £450 million in reduced sales.

Scotland would have to replicate, at great cost, institutions that we currently share with people across these islands, adding costs for businesses protecting intellectual property, to provide just one example. Scotland would have to reapply for membership of the World Trade Organisation. The shortest recorded period for entry was Kyrgyzstan, at just under three years to conclude its chapters of agreement. An independent Scottish Government would have to negotiate its way back into the WTO, while our competitors used that period of uncertainty to promote their own domestic products against ours. What would tariffs applied by some of our major non-EU markets to Scottish goods in the period we were outside the WTO mean for jobs in our exporting industries in Scotland?

If we want the best future for exports and investment in Scotland, we are strongest within the United Kingdom and the European Union. If we make the right decision in September and follow long-term policies to boost exports, Scotland can have a prosperous future that will bring the fruits of economic growth to all its people.

[Mr Philip Hollobone (in the Chair)]

I understand that the Minister has flown back from Scotland especially for the debate. He will be delighted to know that he has 20 minutes for his response and the debate will finish no later than 5.15.

Oral Answers to Questions

William Bain Excerpts

Wednesday 19th March 2014 Commons Chamber

[Mr Carmichael]

In that respect, the Governor of the Bank of England is in very good company—he is with the President of the European Commission, the Prime Minister of Spain and the permanent secretary to the Treasury. The truth of the matter is that, day by day, bad news comes to those who want to remove us from the United Kingdom, and they are just not prepared to listen to it.

[Mr William Bain (Glasgow North East) (Lab)]

If and when the Secretary of State does speak to the First Minister, will he remind him that any attempt to use sterling informally without a central bank would mean that an independent Scotland would not meet the terms of entry to the European Union? What could be more damaging for jobs and growth in Scotland than that?

[Mr Carmichael]

The nationalists are always very keen on telling us about their vision. In fact, if we were to use sterling without the central bank in the Bank of England, the relationship between Scotland and the rest of the United Kingdom would be like that between Panama and the United States of America. That is not a vision; it is a nightmare.

Scotland’s Place in the UK

William Bain Excerpts

Thursday 6th February 2014 Commons Chamber

[Mr William Bain (Glasgow North East) (Lab)]

I beg to move,

That this House has considered Scotland’s place in the UK.

Let me begin by thanking my hon. Friend the Member for North East Derbyshire (Natascha Engel) and other hon. Members who serve on the Backbench Business Committee for granting the House the opportunity to debate a proposition that will dominate much of this referendum year across our islands: Scotland’s place in the United Kingdom. As we shall no doubt hear in the debate, this is a question of identity and economics. Above all, it is a battle of visions for the future of Scotland—one with huge implications for the future of other multinational states across the world.

I reject the binary and false choice that some seek to make in this debate that people have to choose between Scottishness or Britishness and cast their vote accordingly on 18 September. I am a proud Scot, but see no contradiction between that patriotism and my strong sense of Britishness—or, indeed, my additional citizenship of the European Union. In an increasingly interconnected world characterised by ever-evolving apps and networks, the concept of mutually exclusive identities does not reflect the real lived experience of billions of people.

Before I was elected to this House, I worked in universities in both Glasgow and London. I saw the challenges they faced in common. I never looked on the young people from east London, whom I taught in this great city, as strangers or foreigners; in fact, they were often fascinated by the study of devolution in my constitutional law classes. I knew them as people with whom I share an identity, and want to continue sharing a state with, for the benefit of all of us.

[Wayne David (Caerphilly) (Lab)]

In this debate on the future of the Union, will my hon. Friend acknowledge that the Union is not merely between Scotland and England, but Wales and Northern Ireland too?

[Mr Bain]

My hon. Friend makes an important point and I am pleased that we have Members from all parts of the United Kingdom in the Chamber for this debate.

As a student, I campaigned for a devolved Scottish Parliament and marched to The Mound in Edinburgh; never with a flag in my hand, but with hope in my heart that powers should be exercised at the most appropriate level for the purpose of improving the lot of ordinary people in Scotland. I did so because I believed, and still believe, that decision making in many public services and on many economic policies is best exercised at a more localised level. However, I strongly believe in retaining the advantages of a collective macro-economic framework, of a collective social security system and of cross-UK business, borders and diplomatic policies used to promote greater justice at home and across the world.

We ought to recognise the great force for good the Scottish Parliament has been in Scottish politics, whether on housing policy, land reform or other policy areas, and never has it been greater than this week, when it passed a Bill, in its own way, to secure equality before the law for LGBT people living in Scotland. This was an expression of Scotland’s values being complementary to, not divergent from, those in other parts of the United Kingdom.

The devolution settlement has evolved before, it will change again in 2015 and 2016, with the introduction of significant new financial responsibilities over borrowing and income tax, and it can accommodate further reforms in the future. In the 1997 referendum, the late John Smith was proved correct—strong devolution within the United Kingdom was the settled will of the Scottish people—and I believe we will express that loudly and clearly again in this upcoming referendum.

[Jonathan Edwards (Carmarthen East and Dinefwr) (PC)]

As I understand the position of the Labour party in Scotland, it favours the full devolution of income tax powers to the Scottish Parliament. Yesterday, we heard a speech from the 1970s from the hon. Member for Pontypridd (Owen Smith), in the Welsh Grand Committee, in which he said that fiscal devolution was tantamount to destroying the fabric of the British state. Will the hon. Member for Glasgow North East (Mr Bain) explain to the House and the people of Scotland what exactly is Labour’s position on fiscal devolution?

[Mr Deputy Speaker (Mr Lindsay Hoyle)]

It might help Mr Edwards to know that he was on the list to speak, and I do not want to keep banging people down the list because they intervene. I do not want to stop debate—I do not mind interventions—but please ensure they are brief and not continual.

[Mr Bain]

I want to keep the focus on positivity in this debate, and I would simply point out to the hon. Member for Carmarthen East and Dinefwr (Jonathan Edwards) that the one party that was inconsistent in its approach to tax powers being devolved in the Scotland Act 2012 was the party he sits alongside on those Benches.

As a result of the Edinburgh agreement, Scotland faces a choice between two futures in the 18 September referendum: an optimistic path that builds on the strength of the devolution settlement and our common institutions, such as the Bank of England, to make our economy more productive and where ordinary people share more in the benefits of growth; and a pessimistic path implying that erecting borders is more important than bringing down barriers in terms of inequality and lack of opportunity across these islands.

[Angus Robertson (Moray) (SNP)]

The hon. Gentleman says he wants to make a positive case. In a debate about significant constitutional change, to take such a tone is a good thing, but if he is making a positive case and if the Labour party knows what further powers it wants to give to the Scottish Parliament, will he say whether it is true that some of his colleagues are going to boycott his own party conference?

[Mr Bain]

That is an odd intervention, because I am looking forward to my party conference in Perth—I have already booked my rail ticket—and I will enjoy campaigning in the city of the hon. Member for Perth and North Perthshire (Pete Wishart) when I am there.

No silver bullet comes from statehood and no instant answer to declining living standards will come from redrawing lines on a map. It will take politicians at every level of governance, together with civic society and engaged citizens across these islands, to work together so that ordinary people share more fairly in the wealth they produce, to reform our banking system, to work towards a more universal child care system and to reverse the crises of long-term youth unemployment, low business investment and weak productivity before they cause long-term damage to the fabric of our country. We must reshape lives, not reorder our geography.

I am optimistic about Scotland’s future. It is the home of groundbreaking initiatives on science and research, supporting high-level manufacturing and enhancing the huge international reputation of our universities and colleges. Scotland’s economy can have a great future as a beacon for investment in renewable energy, if we combine our natural resources with the strength of UK investment networks and markets. I see a Scotland where, through UK Trade & Investment, we increase our share of global trade, creating thousands of jobs in manufacturing, including in our largest manufacturing sector, our burgeoning food and drink export industries.

We can remove the barriers to work for tens of thousands of women in Scotland by creating a more universal child care system, which is one of the biggest drivers of increased prosperity in working households with children; we can support sectors of the economy that create high-skilled, higher-paying jobs; and we can deliver a revolution in workplace skills to make progression within a job and a career a reality for millions. Our ambition must be to create a society that has better health and educational outcomes and that uses the strengths of every level of government to eliminate the in-work and out-of-work poverty in Scotland described so starkly this week by the Joseph Rowntree Foundation.

Such a vision can be delivered only on foundations that are secure, not built on sand. If Scotland is to prosper, rather than merely survive, we need sterling as our strong and guaranteed currency, backed by a monetary, fiscal, banking and political union and anchored by the Bank of England as our central bank. If Scotland is to thrive rather than languish, we need a single market in goods, capital, labour and products across the United Kingdom, with no internal barriers to ambition or trade. If Scotland is to walk tall in the world and tackle global poverty, hunger and disease, as well as climate change, we need the strongest representation through the United Kingdom in a range of international bodies, stretching from the G8, to the World Bank, the International Monetary Fund, the Commonwealth, the UN Security Council, the Council of Europe and—yes—the European Union.

The only way we can bolster these foundations is by rejecting separation and endorsing devolution and full partnership within the United Kingdom. I look forward to hearing the contributions in this debate, but I reflect on the fact that the nature of politics has to change in Scotland too. The spirit of unity in 1999 has sadly turned into an air of rancour and bitterness. If, as I hope, we achieve a strong and decisive vote in favour of devolution and against separation, people in Scotland will need to move forward not as divided tribes of devolutionists and nationalists consumed by enmity, but filled with a shared political destiny.

I hope we can reach out the hand of friendship to those on the other side of the debate and begin the conversation that my right hon. Friend the Member for Paisley and Renfrewshire South (Mr Alexander) mentioned in order to move from the low divisiveness of these times to the uplands of a Scotland that can thrive within a strong United Kingdom. I look forward to hearing the rest of this debate, but my wish is that by the end of this year we can proceed in one direction, as one people, one Scotland, as part of one United Kingdom whose best days are ahead of us.

--- Later in debate ---

[Mr Bain]

With the leave of the House, Madam Deputy Speaker, I shall sum up.

We have had an interesting afternoon, and this debate has shown the best of the House of Commons: it has at times been irreverent, moving and witty, but it has also provided serious analysis of serious factual issues relating to this whole discussion of the constitution of the United Kingdom. We heard 25 contributions from Back Benchers. I have insufficient time to run through all of them, but I was particularly struck by the first, which came from the hon. Member for Chichester (Mr Tyrie), who chairs the Treasury Committee. He emphasised clearly that for a functioning currency union there needs to be a banking union, and as my hon. Friend the Member for Cumbernauld, Kilsyth and Kirkintilloch East (Gregg McClymont) said, a political union, too. As Martin Wolf wrote in the Financial Times last week, the Bank of England cannot serve two masters, and that was the point that came from the hon. Gentleman’s contribution.

My hon. Friend the Member for Glasgow Central (Anas Sarwar) spoke passionately about the contribution of the UK Labour movement in Scotland’s development. The right hon. Member for Berwickshire, Roxburgh and Selkirk (Michael Moore) spoke about the scale and extent of the positive potential in Scotland’s economy if we make the right choice in this referendum in terms of our energy policy and in keeping the family of nations that is the United Kingdom together. The hon. Member for Penrith and The Border (Rory Stewart), along with other hon. Members, spoke about the head and heart case for keeping the UK together. Other hon. Members referred to our links with the European Union and the risks that this debate causes to those.

This political, economic, social and cultural Union has been more than the sum of its parts for the past 300 years. I hope that this will not be the last time this House of Commons discusses that Union, and that we shall celebrate the continuation of that Union for many decades and centuries to come.

Question put and agreed to.

Resolved,

That this House has considered Scotland’s place in the UK.

Oral Answers to Questions

William Bain Excerpts

Wednesday 18th December 2013 Commons Chamber

[Mr Carmichael]

I do hope that that sounded better when the hon. Gentleman rehearsed it in the mirror earlier this morning, because it sounded pretty poor just now. There is no escaping the fundamental truth that his policy would be the ruination of the Scotch whisky industry, for no good reason.

[Mr William Bain (Glasgow North East) (Lab)]

2. What steps the Government are taking to tackle low pay in Scotland.

[The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Scotland (David Mundell)]

With your permission, Mr Speaker, before I answer that question, may I draw the House’s attention to the fact that Saturday 21 December will be the 25th anniversary of the Lockerbie bombing? That remains the single largest loss of life ever in the United Kingdom, with 270 people perishing on that fateful evening. I am sure that the thoughts and prayers of the whole House will be with the community and with those who lost friends and family on that day. Much of the focus over the past 25 years has been on the perpetrators, but the friends and families of the victims and the community of Lockerbie deserve our respect and admiration for the formidable way in which they have coped with 25 years of unprecedented global attention.

The national minimum wage is one of Government’s key policies to support the low paid, and it is UK wide. On 1 October, the adult minimum wage increased to £6.31 per hour. We have also increased the income tax personal allowance to £10,000, taking 224,000 Scots out of income tax altogether and benefiting 2.2 million Scottish taxpayers.

[Mr Bain]

I am sure that the whole House will commend and agree with the Minister’s remarks about Lockerbie.

In his subsequent answer, the right hon. Gentleman omitted to say that prices had risen more quickly than wages in 41 of the 42 months he has served as a Minister in this House, that low pay was on the rise in Scotland and that the value of the national minimum wage had declined in real terms under this Government. When are he and the Business Secretary going to do something concrete to deal with all that? Or is he just going to sit on his hands while the cost of living crisis in Scotland gets worse by the day?

[David Mundell]

The hon. Gentleman is simply wrong. The October 2013 adult minimum wage rate is around 27% higher in real terms compared with the consumer prices index and about 15% higher in real terms compared with the retail prices index than it was on its introduction in 1999.

Oral Answers to Questions

William Bain Excerpts

Wednesday 26th June 2013 Commons Chamber

[Michael Moore]

My hon. Friend is right: this is absolutely key to the whole of the UK’s economy, and I look forward to the benefits being enjoyed by all parts of Britain—north and south.

[Mr William Bain (Glasgow North East) (Lab)]

This Government have delivered just one fifth of the promised growth since 2010. Is the Secretary of State also aware that the working-age employment rate in Scotland has fallen by 2% from five years ago, leaving a jobs gap for Scotland of more than 71,000? Does that not make the case for a jobs guarantee now to get Scotland’s young and long-term jobless people back into work, generate more tax revenues and help cut the deficit, which rose, not fell, last year under this incompetent Government?

[Michael Moore]

The hon. Gentleman should perhaps practise his questions a little more. Yet again, there is denial from him and his colleagues of the good progress we have been making on unemployment, and I hope he recognises that. It is absolutely essential that we take the measures to support people into work, which we are doing with the Work programme and the Youth Contract, and we will be making work pay with universal credit. He can shake his head, but he needs to get with the reality.

--- Later in debate ---

[Mr William Bain (Glasgow North East) (Lab)]

Q7. In October 2010, the Prime Minister told the Conservative party conference:“In five years’ time, we will have balanced the books.”That promise is going to be broken, is it not, Prime Minister?

[The Prime Minister]

We have cut the deficit by a third, and we will cut it further by the next election. Frankly, coming to the House complaining about borrowing when you plan to put it up is a pretty odd political strategy. That is the question that the hon. Gentleman has to put to his Front Bench. Why, if borrowing is a problem, is it Labour policy to put it up?

Partnerships (Prosecution) (Scotland) Bill [Lords]

William Bain Excerpts

Monday 22nd April 2013 Commons Chamber

[Mr William Bain (Glasgow North East) (Lab)]

The Opposition endorse Third Reading. Throughout previous stages of the Bill both in this House and in the other place, right hon. and hon. Members have kept very much at the forefront of our minds the families and the 14 people who lost their lives in the dreadful fire at Rosepark nursing home in Uddingston, south Lanarkshire, which was caused by an earthing fault at the back of an electrical distribution box in a storage cupboard at the nursing home.

As I said in Second Reading Committee, a fatal accident inquiry in 2011 chaired by Sheriff Principal Brian Lockhart established that some or all of the lives lost could have been saved if a risk assessment had been conducted and if it had led to the taking of reasonable precautions. That could have avoided or minimised the loss of life. The inquiry found fault with the maintenance of the electrical installation at the care home; inadequate fire safety and drills; inadequate management of fire safety, which was found to be systematically and seriously defective; and weak interaction between the nursing home and Lanarkshire health board.

The laws we make in this House can never repair the feelings that arise from the loss of loved ones, but the Bill will ensure that others never suffer a similar lack of closure as a result of flawed processes in the criminal law caused by deficiencies in the law of partnerships in Scotland. We should therefore welcome the work of the Scottish Law Commission on the matter, its continuing contribution to keeping the laws of Scotland made by both Parliaments under review, and its recommending modernisation when necessary in the public interest.

In particular, we welcome the work predating the Bill that was done on the consultation process by the commission’s chair, Lady Clark, the former Member for Edinburgh Pentlands and former Advocate-General for Scotland; by the commission’s previous chair; by Lord Drummond Young; and by Mr Patrick Layden QC. Although the Scottish Law Commission consulted widely on whether it should attempt to deal with the problem by virtue of a comprehensive reform of partnership law, in the end, pending consideration of wider reforms, the commission settled on the more targeted solution of permitting partnerships to have a degree of continuing legal personality for a limited period in terms of criminal proceedings and prosecutions.

The Opposition welcome the fact that the Bill shows this Parliament’s continued belief in the importance of the reform of private law in Scotland under areas reserved to the UK Parliament under the Scotland Act 1998. Scotland has two Parliaments that make laws on behalf of its people. It is noteworthy that the Bill is the third Scotland-only Bill on a reserved matter to be debated in this House since the devolution of power to the Scottish Parliament in 1999. I hope there will be many more of them in the future, should the people of Scotland choose to remain within the United Kingdom in the referendum to be held next year.

The tragedy at Rosepark nursing home in 2004 claimed the lives of 14 residents. However, because the partnership that owned and managed the home was dissolved after the fire, but before the Crown Office in Scotland could initiate any proceedings for prosecution, the partnership could not be prosecuted. That principle was established in the case of Balmer v. Her Majesty’s Advocate in 2008. Following the decision in that case, the Scottish Law Commission published a discussion paper and consulted on possible options for reforming the law of partnerships in Scotland in this area. That consultation led directly to the Bill before the House this evening.

It is an important principle of commercial law that the legal personality of a company or partnership differs from that of the directors or partners. It is possible to prosecute a partnership in Scotland quite separately from the individual partners under Scots criminal law. Indeed, it is vital that we uphold the concept that legal persons, as well as the individual partners in their own right, can be subject to liability for actions deemed to be breaches of the criminal law.

Another core principle of the law of partnerships in Scotland is that of joint and several liability for civil and criminal obligations incurred by the partnership. Should a partnership be convicted of an offence following prosecution and be subject to a fine, then any or all of the partners may be held liable for payment of any such fine imposed by the courts. That has been seen as critical in ensuring that the law can attach responsibility for payment to at least one member of the partnership. That partner then has the right to seek recompense for the outstanding share of the financial liability thereby incurred from the other partners, through a civil action under the partnership agreement and the Partnership Act 1890.

The Bill closes the loophole in the law that was exposed by the Rosepark tragedy. It will permit a prosecution to be brought against a dissolved partnership up to five years following the deemed dissolution in respect of conduct that arose out of the partnership while it was still in existence. Actions in criminal law may also be brought against partnerships where the composition of partners or the membership structure have altered, where partners have left, or new partners have joined. Any member of a partnership may thus still be liable for any criminal offences committed while a member of the partnership and through any change in composition.

Circumstances that could give rise to prosecutions under the clause include: potential breaches of section 36 of the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974; cases where an individual’s acts or omissions have been a cause of the offence; cases where an individual is held guilty, art and part, of a common-law or statutory offence; cases where an individual has aided, abetted, counselled or procured the commission of an offence under statute law; or cases where an individual has committed an offence with their consent or connivance, or even through neglect. The range of offences potentially liable for commission by individual members of a partnership was significantly widened by the Scottish Parliament, through section 53 of the Criminal Justice and Licensing (Scotland) Act 2010.

Should a partnership be convicted of an offence, any legal rule, whether in statute or common law, relating to the liability of the partners, applies as if the partnership had not been dissolved. This permits joint and several liability for any fine imposed by the courts following a successful prosecution, in line with sections 4 and 9 of the Partnership Act 1890 and subject to the provisions in clause 3 of the Bill. Any fine imposed following a conviction may be recovered against the assets of the partnership, or any or all of the individual partners, each of whom would have a right to claim a remedy for the other shares from assets of the partnership, or from the other partners’ personal assets. In some statutes, such as the Health Act 2006, the law restricts the payment of fines to the partnership assets only, but for a dissolved partnership under the Bill that rule will not apply, because if a partnership is dissolved there will be no partnership assets and any fine might otherwise prove to be unenforceable—that would be unacceptable.

The sole element of contention that arose during the passage of the Bill, in this House and in the other place, stemmed from clause 4, under which it is possible for someone to have joined a partnership after the commission of a potentially prosecutable offence and then face liability for some or all of any penalty applied by the court following a finding of guilt, despite the fact that that person was not involved at the partnership at the time of commission of the offence. That was a significant concern for the Law Society and others in Scotland, as many businesses are organised through the partnership model.

I moved a probing amendment in Committee, following similar amendments that had been moved in the other place, to test the arguments as to whether an exemption could be created for innocent partners who become members of a firm, but are unaware of any potential criminal liability that could give rise to conviction and the imposition of a fine, who then face demands to meet a share or even the entirety of a fine from personal assets in the absence of partnership assets or personal assets from the pre-existing members of the firm. We were reassured by the Commission that it is likely to keep the operation of this provision under review, and that a more comprehensive analysis of the potential reform of partnership law remains a possibility. In that spirit, we were happy to withdraw the amendment.

In conclusion, the Bill closes an important loophole that the unsuccessful attempts to prosecute the owners of Rosepark nursing home, following the fatal fire, brought to light. We cannot remove the suffering that the families and loved ones of the deceased have experienced in these past nine years, but we can ensure that, by enacting these reforms, other people affected by the conduct of partnerships are never put in a similar position again. That is the best tribute we in this Parliament can make to the 14 people who so tragically and unnecessarily lost their lives. For those reasons, the Opposition strongly support the Bill.