It is “absolutely essential” Boris Johnson meets Nicola Sturgeon at least twice a year if efforts to keep the Union together are to succeed, according to the man who wrote the UK government’s report on how Whitehall treats Scotland.
Lord Dunlop said he was disappointed his recommendations for putting relations between Westminster and the Scottish Government on a more formal basis had been watered down by Johnson.
He said: “If those reforms are to succeed, then I think it’s very important that the Prime Minister gives a strong lead.”
Dunlop, a former Scotland Office Minister and former Downing Street adviser, told MPs that the conclusions of his 2019 review of the UK government and devolved administrations were more relevant than ever after the covid pandemic.
At a joint session in front of Scottish, Welsh and Northern Irish MPs, Dunlop said his recommendations on the Prime Minister hosting joint meetings with devolved governments had been downplayed.
He said: “If there is one aspect of the package that disappoints me it is that the role for the Prime Minister appears quite limited to one meeting a year, and it is a meeting that he could delegate to somebody else.”
Dunlop warned that approach would undo efforts to change Whitehall culture so that UK Ministers and civil servants take more account of devolution.
He added: “If the Prime Minister doesn’t appear to have it as a high priority then I don’t think you can expect that other ministers or the Whitehall machine will make it a priority either.”
The Dunlop Review was commissioned in 2019 to consider whether existing UK Government structures to support the working of the Union were effective and whether reform was necessary.
The report, commissioned under Theresa May's government, was watered down by the Johnson administration with Cabinet Office Minister Michael Gove now taking the lead on inter-governmental meetings.
Johnson has invited the First Ministers of Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland to a covid recovery summit in the aftermath of the Scottish and Welsh elections in an effort to overcome constitutional divisions.
But Dunlop, whose report had found that the UK’s intergovernmental machinery was not fit for purpose, said there needed to be a more formal and frequent schedule of meetings of devolved leaders and the Prime Minister.
Dunlop told MPs: “In my view the bare minimum is two meetings a year that the Prime Minister should absolutely chair because this is about building better relationships and I would regard that as one of the key tests of how seriously the government takes the job of strengthening the Union.”
Cabinet Office Minister Michael Gove later assured MPs they would see “intensified co-operation in our recovery efforts and the Prime Minister will be leading that from the front”.
Gove added: “He absolutely wants to make sure that he’s in a position where he can make sure that all of the devolved administrations recognise that their concerns and interests are being heard in Downing Street.”
David Mundell MP, the former Scottish Secretary, gently reminded Gove of the importance of the Prime Minister turning up for talks with devolved governments.
Mundell said: “Devolved administrations can legitimately look back and suggest that sometimes these meetings haven’t been given the seriousness they merit within the hierarchy of commitments that a Prime Minister may have.”
