This was the week that the Government unveiled the 44 clauses of the Scotland Bill which will be debated after the General Election. Former Secretary of State for Scotland Michael Moore was a member of the Smith Commission upon whose report the clauses were drafted. He says in an article for the Scotsman that the Commission has delivered and “the Vow” has therefore been kept:
Of course, we know that any devolution settlement short of independence will be unacceptable to the SNP. And already we have seen them start to pick fights over the draft clauses, as indeed they did moments after Nicola Sturgeon and John Swinney signed up to the Smith Commission Agreement in December. But I hope that they will now take a minute, even if it is in private, to reflect on what has been achieved.
£20 billion in tax raising powers. A welfare budget starting at £2.5 billion. These powers, and much else in the clauses announced yesterday, mean the Scottish Parliament will become one of the most powerful devolved administrations in the world. The Liberal Democrats have long campaigned for Home Rule for Scotland. That is what this deal represents.
The challenge for the SNP is now to ensure that they work with us to ensure the new Scotland Bill can get on the statute book as soon as possible. If they want people to take their commitment to more powers seriously then they cannot be a roadblock to these changes. This includes ensuring that power is not hoarded centrally, but passed down to areas like the Borders where Edinburgh can sometimes feel just as distant as London.
You can read the whole article here.
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