The draft clauses for the new Scotland bill set out by the previous coalition government at the start of this year “sell the Smith commission short”, according to a Scottish parliamentary committee report.
The unanimous cross-party report from the devolution (further powers) committee, published on Thursday, concludes that the legislative clauses do not meet the “spirit or substance” of the Smith commission’s recommendations on welfare and benefits, and require extensive redrafting in other key areas.
The cross-party Smith commission was set up after Scotland voted no to independence in the referendum in September, to agree on further powers offered by the Westminster parties in advance of the vote.
The committee convener, SNP MSP Bruce Crawford, said: “The committee believes the current proposals do not yet meet the challenge of fully translating the political agreement reached in the Smith commission into legislation.”
The interim report argues that after detailed consideration of the draft legislation it can find no power for the Scottish parliament to top up reserved benefits despite that being one of the powers highlighted at the time of publication. It also assesses that the definition of “disability” used is too restrictive, and seeks reassurance that any new benefits introduced in Scotland would result in additional income for recipients.
The committee also underlined its concern that it “could be considered or perceived as” giving the UK government a veto on key Scottish welfare policies – such as abolishing the bedroom tax – a complaint made forcefully by Scotland’s first minister, Nicola Sturgeon, as soon as the clauses were first published in January.
Significantly, the report also recommends strengthening the draft clauses which relate to the Smith recommendation to place the Sewel convention on a statutory footing.
The Sewel convention applies when the Westminster parliament legislates on a matter normally dealt with by the Scottish parliament and can happen only if Holyrood has given its consent.
This is highly relevant after the Scottish government vowed to withhold legislative consent from the Conservative proposals to scrap the 1998 Human Rights Act. In practice, the Scottish parliament would be invited to refuse legislative consent via a Sewel motion.
Crawford concluded: “The committee is disappointed that the currently proposed legislation sells Smith short”, and called on the new UK government to consider the report as a matter of urgency.
Welcoming the report, Scotland’s deputy first minister, John Swinney, said: “I expect the UK government to take the unanimous views of the devolution committee very seriously and amend the Scotland bill before it is introduced.
“As the first minister told parliament yesterday, we will press the prime minister to devolve further job creating and revenue raising powers to the Scottish parliament. Within that context we will continue to put forward constructive proposals to ensure UK legislation delivers both the spirit and letter of agreements between the Scottish and UK governments.”
A Scotland Office spokesman said: “The UK government is committed to delivering more devolved powers through the package outlined by the cross-party Smith commission. We will work to bring forward a Scotland bill on this basis and ensure the Scottish parliament becomes one of the most powerful devolved parliaments in the world. The secretary of state has been clear there will be a full parliamentary discussion of these issues where differing views can be heard.”
