Scottish Constitutional Commission
From Democracywiki
Central Lobby
 Our View Unlock Democracy Scotland has welcomed Wendy Alexander's proposal for the Scottish Parliament to establish a Constitutional Commission. The Commission would receive evidence from the people of Scotland regarding the impact of the devolution settlement on their life and work and their sense of security within the United Kingdom, in order to determine what further constitutional changes are needed. Terry Myers, Chair of Unlock Democracy Scotland, commented: "We warmly support Wendy Alexander's proposal for a Constitutional Commission. This would formalise Alex Salmond's 'national conversation' and ensure that the government cannot merely pick and choose from the evidence it receives. "We do have some reservations about the Commission's proposed composition and remit. Ms Alexander's proposal specifies that the Commission would draw experts from a broad spectrum of society to 'consider the operation of the settlement.' It does not consider whether the Commission might itself recommend what constitutional changes are required. This misses the essential point of a Constitutional Convention, which it appears to replace, that the authority for constitutional change rests ultimately with the people affected by it. "We therefore urge Ms Alexander to consider the possibility of bringing forward to the Scottish Parliament a Bill drafted along similar lines to that of the Citizens' Convention Bill which has been tabled in the Parliament at Westminster." |
The future of the devolution settlement was one of the the key issues on the elections for the Parliament. One of the early acts of the new SNP Scottish Government was to launch a National Conversation Choosing Scotland's Future about the Scotland's governance, with the SNP advocating independence.
The unionist parties in Scotland responded by launching a Constitutional Commission to explore Scotland's governance but within a UK framework.
Chair of the Commission announced
On 25th March Des BrowneMP Secretary of State for the Scotland Office and Secretary of State Ministry of Defence made a written ministerial statement to the House of Commons announcing the Chair of the Constitutional Commission.
I am pleased to announce today that Professor Sir Kenneth Calman has agreed to serve as Chair of a Commission to review the Scotland Act. Such a Commission was proposed in and approved by the Scottish Parliament. The Government welcome that Parliament's support for the aim of strengthening devolution, and securing Scotland's place in the Union. We are therefore giving our full support to this cross-border, cross-party review.
The terms of reference for the Commission, which have also been approved by the Scottish Parliament, are:
"To review the provisions of the Scotland Act 1998 in the light of experience and to recommend any changes to the present constitutional arrangements that would enable the Scottish Parliament to serve the people of Scotland better, that would improve the financial accountability of the Scottish Parliament and that would continue to secure the position of Scotland within the United Kingdom".
The Government and the Scottish Parliament will work together to provide support for the Commission, which will be asked to make an interim report by the end of this year. Its report will be submitted to both the Government and to the Scottish Parliament.
I hope that there will be full engagement by people in Scotland and elsewhere in the UK with this review, which will provide an opportunity to assess the successes of devolution to Scotland, and identify ways in which the devolution settlement can be developed to work better for the people of Scotland within the United Kingdom.
The other members involved in the Commission will be announced in due course.
Constitutional Commission launched
On 6th December the Scottish Parliament debated a Labour Party motion, supported by the Conservatives and Liberal Democrats calling for a Constitutional Commission to explore Scotland's governance but within a UK framework.
The motion called A New Agenda for Scotland proposed
That the Parliament, recognising mainstream public opinion in Scotland, supports the establishment of an independently chaired commission to review devolution in Scotland; encourages UK Parliamentarians and parties to support this commission also and proposes that the remit of this commission should be:
“To review the provisions of the Scotland Act 1998 in the light of experience and to recommend any changes to the present constitutional arrangements that would enable the Scottish Parliament to better serve the people of Scotland, that would improve the financial accountability of the Scottish Parliament and that would continue to secure the position of Scotland within the United Kingdom”,
and further instructs the Scottish Parliamentary Corporate Body to allocate appropriate resources and funding for this review.
Wendy Alexander opened the debate by saying
Annabel Goldie for the Conservatives said that
Nicol Stephen for the Liberal Democrats said
MSPs voted 76 votes to 46 in favour of the commission although the SNP argued that the Commission was an attempt to exclude Nationalists.
