Scotland Bill - UK Legislation

The motion

That the Parliament agrees that Scotland is best served by a Scottish Parliament that has the full range of powers and responsibilities necessary to improve Scotland’s economic performance and promote sustainable economic growth; agrees that the current provisions of the Scotland Bill, introduced in the House of Commons on 30 November 2010, do not provide those powers and responsibilities; recognises the improvements to the Bill suggested by the Scotland Bill Committee but is of the view that these are not sufficient either to provide the financial responsibility that Scotland needs nor to address the flaws in the Bill; nevertheless agrees that the UK Parliament should consider the following parts of the Bill:

(a) the transfer of legislative competence to the Scottish Parliament for the control of airguns (clause 11); and

(b) consents to the transfer of legislative competence to the Scottish Parliament for stamp duty land tax and landfill tax (clauses 28 to 31);

further agrees that the UK Parliament should consider the following parts of the Bill providing that the amendments specified are made to the Bill:

(c) the provisions that provide executive competence to the Scottish Ministers, on condition that the Bill is amended:

(i) to transfer legislative competence to the Scottish Parliament over the administration of elections to the Scottish Parliament, speed limits, drink-driving limits and licensing to treat addiction in addition to the transfer of executive competence to the Scottish Ministers (clauses 1 to 3, 19 to 22);
(ii) to devolve legislative competence for the Crown Estate in Scotland to the Scottish Parliament (clause 18); and
(iii) to devolve responsibility for the appointment of the Scottish Member of the BBC Trust to the Scottish Ministers subject to the agreement of the Parliament (clause 17); and

(d) the following finance provisions, on condition that the Bill is amended to provide full financial responsibility for the Scottish Parliament:

(i) full legislative competence over all taxation (other than VAT) and over all benefits and tax credits (clauses 24 to 27);
(ii) power for the Scottish Government to borrow for capital investment on a prudential basis with flexibility to manage a portfolio of borrowing from both the UK Treasury and other sources, spreading the cost and risk of Scotland’s capital investment programme (clause 32); and
(iii) the ability for the Scottish Government to borrow for revenue purposes so as to enable an effective response to the natural volatility in tax revenues and to manage public expenditure across economic cycles in the same manner as any fiscally responsible government (clause 32);

further agrees that the UK Parliament should not consider the following parts of the Bill:

(e) the removal of the legislative competence of the Scottish Parliament for corporate insolvency and the regulation of health professions (clauses 12 and 13);
(f) the provisions to provide UK Ministers with powers to implement international obligations in devolved areas without the consent of the Scottish Parliament (clause 23); and
(g) the provisions for partial suspension of Acts subject to scrutiny by the Supreme Court (clause 7);

further agrees that, as planned amendments to the Bill in relation to the Lord Advocate and the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) have not been published or subject to public scrutiny, the Scottish Parliament cannot consent to these proposals at this time; further agrees that, in light of the lack of detail for key aspects of the UK Government’s proposals, the Bill should be amended to require the consent of the Scottish Parliament before provisions are commenced; further agrees that the UK Parliament should consider the remainder of the Bill; further agrees that, given the amendments requested by the Scottish Parliament, the incoming Scottish Parliament should consider the Bill as amended by the UK Parliament, and confirms the Scottish Parliament’s consent to t

No recorded vote on this motion. Most motions are never debated, and many that are debated are agreed without a division. Vote records are published from 2011.

SNP 1

Party shown is each supporter’s party when the motion was published.

No contribution in the Official Report cites S3M-08061 by reference.