Leaving the EU: Negotiations

Debate between Alister Jack and John Lamont

Tuesday 10th July 2018 Commons Chamber

[Mr Alister Jack (Dumfries and Galloway) (Con)]

Does my hon. Friend agree that, whether we are talking about the European Union referendum or the independence referendum, we are not in the business of playing “best of three”?

[John Lamont]

My hon. Friend has made an important point. Best of three, best of five, best of seven—how often do we need to keep rerunning votes until Opposition Members get the result that they want, and are happy to accept the democratic wishes of the people of this great country?

The Liberal Democrats’ position is also hypocritical, because they claim to be democrats and claim to be standing up for a people’s choice in one breath, and in the next breath they want to ignore the people’s vote the first time around. The reality is that the electorate made their choice knowing there would be no second referendum. The Prime Minister at the time, David Cameron, repeatedly made that clear. Every voter received a leaflet from the Government stating that the vote was

“a once in a generation decision”,

and told voters that the UK Government

“will implement what you decide.”

The Liberal Democrats’ position is also incoherent, because they think that the electorate made the wrong decision the first time around, but believe that a second referendum would produce a different result. What would a second Liberal Democrat referendum actually achieve? A greater leave vote and the possibility of a harder Brexit; a remain vote followed by justified calls from Brexiteers for another referendum to decide the matter once and for all; or roughly the same result, and an even more frustrated electorate.

Rural Communities in Scotland: Broadband

Debate between Alister Jack and John Lamont

Wednesday 22nd November 2017 Westminster Hall

[John Lamont]

My hon. Friend makes an important point. I will come on to the alternatives and self-help options, which many communities have to consider because of the failures, particularly of Openreach, to deliver to some of the harder-to-reach communities.

[Mr Alister Jack (Dumfries and Galloway) (Con)]

Returning to a point my hon. Friend made a moment ago, my constituency of Dumfries and Galloway is in the bottom 30 of constituencies in the UK. We have done a broadband survey and had over 300 responses. When we speak to people directly, it is undoubtedly the case that they think the Scottish Government are focusing on the central belt, and they want the UK Government to put the money directly into Dumfries and Galloway, not to go through an organisation that is concentrating on population rather than square miles.

[John Lamont]

My hon. Friend makes an important point, which supports the point that I am making about the role local councils should have. Local councils, whether it is Dumfries and Galloway, Scottish Borders or Aberdeenshire, have a much better understanding of how to deliver better superfast broadband to the communities they serve. I strongly believe that central Government, particularly the nationalist Government in Edinburgh, are so focused on other priorities and the central belt that they are failing rural Scotland and many of the constituencies that we represent.

Devolved Powers in Scotland

Debate between Alister Jack and John Lamont

Tuesday 17th October 2017 Westminster Hall

[John Lamont (Berwickshire, Roxburgh and Selkirk) (Con)]

I am delighted to take part in today’s debate, and I commend my hon. Friend the Member for Stirling (Stephen Kerr) on initiating it. Devolution should have been a good thing for Scotland, bringing power and decision-making closer to the people. Holyrood has evolved to be one of the most powerful devolved Parliaments in the world, and I for one welcome that process, but it does mean that the Scottish Government must face the reality of spending within their means. Every time the SNP objects to a reduction in public spending, they have a simple solution: increase taxes to pay for what it is promising.

Devolution does not and should not stop at Holyrood. What we have seen, particularly over the past 10 years, is an increasingly powerful Scottish Parliament refusing to hand over any powers to local authorities. In fact, the reverse has often been the case. The current SNP Administration in Holyrood have been one of the most centralising Governments in recent years. Most people in Scotland do not feel that decision making has been brought any closer to them.

[Mr Alister Jack (Dumfries and Galloway) (Con)]

Will my hon. Friend give way?

[John Lamont]

No, I have got only a short amount of time left. In many cases, decision making has moved from Westminster to Holyrood. Scotland has become one of the most centralised countries in the western world. The vast majority of economic decision-making powers are kept by the Scottish Government, and councils have been relegated to little more than service providers. Council oversight of policing has been all but destroyed by the creation of Police Scotland. Local sheriff courts have been shut in Duns and Peebles, as have local police station counters. The Scottish Government meddle in hundreds of planning decisions each year, overturning council decisions half the time.

My final point is this: the Scottish Government constantly say that they want more devolution, but it is interesting to see what they do with that devolution when they get it. The answer is nothing. The Scottish Government have had the power to raise or lower income tax, but have chosen not to use that power. They have the power to compensate women who have been affected by the changes to pension age, but they choose to do nothing apart from complain about it. Most recently, after years of demanding control over welfare, what did the SNP do when it actually got those powers? It asked the Department for Work and Pensions to remain in charge of payments for three more years because they were not ready for the responsibility. Time and time again, the SNP is failing Scotland because it fails to use the powers it has available.