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It took them long enough but Westminster has finally produced a politician who gets it when it comes to devolution.
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it → publish → devolution
Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch, fresh from her party’s conference, says she is minded to amend the Scotland Act to reverse parts of the devolution settlement.
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she → say → settlement
This column has been a lonely voice for devolution reform for some years now, with the establishment regarding such talk as sacrilegious.
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establishment → regard → talk
In which case, allow me to welcome Mrs Badenoch to the cause of constitutional heresy.
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me → allow → heresy
As the Scottish Daily Mail revealed, the woman who hopes to be Britain’s next Prime Minister is troubled by the omnifiasco that is Holyrood, and in particular its chaotic record on education.
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that → reveal → education
She warns that unless ministers and MSPs shape up, her government would intervene in the hopes of undoing some of the damage.
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government → warn → damage
This is bold thinking that should encourage anyone who has given up hope that devolution could be reformed.
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devolution → encourage → hope
A Prime Minister who understands the necessity of amending the Scotland Act and has the interest and the steely determination to see it through, whatever the political fallout, could make all the difference.
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fallout → understand → difference
Redrawing the boundaries of devolution would represent a major constitutional project.
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Redrawing → redrawe → project
It would put the SNP on notice that perpetual failure was not an option.
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failure → put → notice
It would say: If Holyrood can’t get on top of Scotland’s problems, Westminster will.
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Westminster → say → problems
Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch says she will consider amending the Scotland Act to reverse parts of the devolution settlement
The mere suggestion would be met with fierce resistance from both separatists and devolutionists, and so I propose that if Mrs Badenoch intends to do it, she should do it properly.
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she → say → it
One of the many foolish capitulations David Cameron made to the Nationalists and their devocrat fellow-travellers was to devolve income tax rates.
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Cameron → make → rates
This was part of a strategy of increasing fiscal autonomy in the expectation that it would force Holyrood to be more financially prudent.
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it → increase → Holyrood
As with everything else in devolution theory, things went very differently in practice.
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things → go → practice
The SNP introduced its Scottish Rate of Income Tax and imposed on Scotland the highest rate in the UK.
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SNP → introduce → UK
At the very point when wealth-creators needed incentives, Holyrood chose to penalise them and send a message to high-earning professionals considering job opportunities north of the Border: your sort aren’t wanted here.
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sort → need → Border
The electorate of 1997 voted for a parliament with limited tax-varying powers, not one capable of punishing ambition to scratch the ideological itches of Leftie lanyard-jockeys.
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electorate → vote → jockeys
Going back to the original arrangements would broadly restore tax-raising powers to the Treasury, where they belong.
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they → go → Treasury
Above all, it would end the SNP’s aspiration-squelching cash-grab.
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it → end → grab
Another Cameron-era blunder was partial devolution of social security, including the ability of Holyrood to create new benefits.
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blunder → include → benefits
The Nationalists have splurged taxpayers’ cash to buy votes while cloaking themselves in so much cant about fairness.
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Nationalists → splurge → fairness
But there is nothing fair about a system which takes from hard-working taxpayers while refusing to apply rigour to how cash is distributed, who is eligible to receive it, and what mechanisms are in place to counter fraud.
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mechanisms → be → fraud
Pretending welfare fraud does not happen and imputing cruel and callous motives to those who dare to bring it up is not compassionate.
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who → pretend → it
It undermines public trust in the very notion of a social safety net and fosters frustration among a population which believes the state should be there for people in their time of need but objects to being taken for a mug.
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state → undermine → mug
The advantage of having welfare policy made at Westminster is that there are already structures and processes in place to uphold the integrity of the system by cracking down on fraud.
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policy → have → fraud
These processes don’t always get it right, and the switchover to Universal Credit showed how easily genuine cases of need were able to slip through the cracks.
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cases → get → cracks
But all that means is that the Department of Work and Pensions must always be alert to the risk of error.
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Department → mean → error
An overzealous protocol which sometimes enforces mistakes is still preferable to one where enforcement is regarded as a dirty word.
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enforcement → enforce → word
Then there is the hokey-cokey situation with equalities laws, whereby some functions are in Holyrood’s ambit and others are out, and assigned instead to Westminster.
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others → be → Westminster
In any other circumstances, this would be the kind of political fudge best left well alone, but this awkward division of responsibility played an important role in the scheme by the SNP and the Greens to get gender self-identification on the statute book.
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division → leave → book
Ultimately, the courts recognised that this effort trespassed into reserved affairs, but the time and resources wasted getting to that point tells us that the current way of doing things is not fit for purpose.
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way → recognise → purpose
Politicos of all persuasions agree that energy security lies at the heart of national security.
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security → agree → security
Redrawing the boundaries of devolution would represent a major constitutional project
While the major aspects of energy policy are decided at Westminster, Holyrood has control over planning permission and Scottish ministers have the power to call in decisions for review.
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ministers → redrawe → review
They are also in charge of energy efficiency, and the Greens, on whose votes John Swinney’s minority government depends, are itching to strip out your boiler, replace it with a heat pump, and charge you for the pleasure.
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government → depend → pleasure
Reclaiming these powers would allow the UK Government to pursue a coherent, Britain-wide energy policy that minimises waste of wind and other renewable resources while setting more realistic targets on climate change.
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that → reclaim → change
This is rather a lot for Mrs Badenoch to be getting on with, but as Lieutenant Columbo was fond of saying, ‘Just one last thing.
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Columbo → get → ?
As well as legislating to reserve some devolved powers, she should consider clarifying the status of already reserved matters.
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she → legislate → matters
International development is supposed to be Westminster’s concern, but the Scottish Government has its own foreign aid budget.
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Government → suppose → budget
Foreign relations are similarly the purview of Whitehall, and yet SNP ministers are never done sticking their oar into US politics, the Middle East conflict, Ukraine and the rest.
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ministers → do → politics
…and 7 more, not listed.
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