Scottish Parliament's Devolution Committee recommends passing Scotland Bill

Holyrood’s Devolution Committee has recommended that the Scottish Parliament should give legislative consent to Westminster passing the Scotland Bill.

The Devolution (Further Powers) Committee scrutinised both the detail of the Scotland Bill itself, and the new powers it will devolve to Holyrood, and the recently agreed Fiscal Framework that will underpin Scotland's finances for the next five years.

Committee convener Bruce Crawford MSP called the endorsement of the bill by the committee is a “significant milestone in a remarkable political process”.

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He said: “Our committee’s unanimous recommendation that legislative consent be given to the Scotland Bill is a significant milestone in a remarkable political process that originates from the cross-party Smith Commission.

“There are still some areas where we feel the Scotland Bill continues to fall short of the spirit and substance of Smith, notably in relation to the devolution of employment programmes and the future operation of the legislative consent provision.

“Nevertheless, the bill has been improved during its passage through our detailed scrutiny, and we welcome the fact that the Secretary of State for Scotland listened to our arguments - most notably on enshrining in the bill the need for a referendum of the Scottish people on any proposal ever to abolish the Scottish Parliament.”

He said the fiscal framework that underpins the powers to be devolved “represents a fair and sustainable position” but added “more clarity is still needed on the five year transitional arrangements and for the review process for the fiscal framework, including what happens in 2021/22 if both governments don’t agree on next steps.”

The full Scottish Parliament will debate a legislative consent motion on Wednesday 16 March.

If consent is given, the Scotland Bill, which is a UK government bill, will be able to complete its parliamentary passage at Westminster.

The Scottish Government has already recommended passing the bill.