This week, the UK government announced a list of new powers it wants to transfer from Westminster to the Scottish parliament, and a few that it wants to transfer from Holyrood back to Westminster, under its response to the Calman Commission review of devolution. This comes ahead of the SNP government setting out its own white paper on independence, which is due to take place on Monday, St Andrew’s Day.
The Scottish secretary, Jim Murphy, told the Commons that a new Scotland bill would be published after the general election, if Labour was returned to power, and would become law before the Holyrood elections in 2015.
The key proposed changes relate to the raising of revenue. The Scottish parliament has always had the power to vary the standard rate of income tax by 3p, but this has never been used. These new proposals are much wider ranging. As Murphy said in introducing the proposals:
‘Since the first day of devolution, the Scottish government has been accountable for how it spends taxpayers’ money, under today’s proposals, they will also be held to account for how they raise it.’
Under the plans, Westminster would cut standard and upper rates of income tax by 10p in Scotland and reduce the Treasury block grant, leaving it to Holyrood to make up the difference, and leaving it up to MSPs to decide whether Scotland should have the same rate of income tax as the rest of the UK. In addition, three other taxes, stamp duty, aggregates levy and landfill, would also be devolved, with a corresponding £500m cut in the block grant. The UK government would also give new powers to Holyrood on capital borrowing, with Scotland having to repay the money through increasing tax.
The proposals also contained plans to devolve currently reserved powers in a number of other areas.
Holyrood would gain powers to set drink-drive limits. In December 2008, the Scottish parliament voted in favour of cutting the drink-driving limit from 80mg to 50mg per 100ml of blood, roughly the equivalent of one glass of beer or wine. In addition, the UK government has proposed to devolve powers on setting national speed limits to the Scottish parliament, in line with one of the key recommendations of the Calman Commission.
Although the UK government proposals also pledged to look at the running of Scottish parliament elections, currently reserved to Westminster, it does not seem likely that this power will be devolved.
This was not only a Calman Commission recommendation but also a key finding of the Gould Review into problems with the 2007 Holyrood election, which resulted in more than 140,000 spoilt ballot papers and the suspension of a number of counts. Following the Gould Review, local government elections, which were previously held simultaneously, have already been already been separated out as a process.
It has been proposed that the Westminster government takes back devolved powers in several areas, where it feels a ‘consistent approach’ is needed. This includes the regulation of healthcare professionals, regulations on insolvency practitioners and regulation of the charity sector.
The ramifications of today’s announcement, and indeed, the likelihood of the proposals coming into force, are unlikely to be apparent for some time, not only the next UK election, but also the next Scottish parliament elections in 2011.
The planned nuts and bolts, the proposed logistics, are clear. The challenge that now faces Scottish Labour is to articulate their vision of the kind of Scotland they want to use these powers to create. It’s not the constitution, stupid.