Scotland Bill

Ian C. Lucas Excerpts

Monday 8th June 2015 Commons Chamber

[Ian C. Lucas (Wrexham) (Lab)]

Will the hon. Gentleman give way?

[Angus Robertson]

I have taken many interventions, and I will now make progress. There is no doubt that the Bill does not match the pledges of the campaign or the spirit and letter of the Smith deal. The Bill falls short and, more importantly, it has also been overtaken by another election—the general election of a few weeks ago—in which the SNP had overwhelming and unprecedented success.

[Ian C. Lucas]

Will the hon. Gentleman give way?

[Angus Robertson]

For the second time, I will not. I want to make progress.

--- Later in debate ---

[Angus Robertson]

I want to make some more progress.

This is a cross-party committee, and as its convenor Bruce Crawford MSP said when launching the interim report in May,

“the current proposals do not yet meet the challenge of fully translating the political agreement reached in the Smith Commission into legislation.”

This is really important. If all the political parties in this House believe that this Bill should deliver on Smith, and if all our colleagues in the Scottish Parliament say it does not fully do so, the Government must listen and they must act.

The errors that those in the Scottish Parliament seek to address go to the heart of what was agreed in the Smith commission. First, on welfare, the Bill as it stands retains a UK veto over changes to universal credit, among other things. That is unacceptable. The Secretary of State denied that there is a veto right in the Bill. I do not know how many Members present have read the Bill, but I invite them to turn to clause 24(4) on page 26, which states:

“The Scottish Ministers may not exercise the function of making regulations to which this section applies unless…they have consulted the Secretary of State about the practicability of implementing the regulations”.

The veto rights are there in black and white. [Interruption.] I hear someone from the Labour Benches say, “So?” Do they think it is a problem or not? Their colleagues in the Scottish Parliament think it is.

[Ian C. Lucas]

rose—

[Angus Robertson]

Does the hon. Gentleman agree with his colleagues in the Scottish Parliament that the Smith proposals should be delivered?

[Ian C. Lucas]

I am not giving way at this point.

[Angus Robertson]

There was I being hectored and accused of being frit and not taking interventions, but when Members are put on the spot as to whether they support their own colleagues in the Scottish Parliament, they run away.