Editors Blog
Devolution: into the next decade
16 Jun 09
Calman report is material for serous debate
"The Scottish Parliament is here to stay." Although it seems to me that few people now doubt it, this statement appearing at the outset of the report by Sir Kenneth Calman's commission on devolution underlines the extent to which the Scottish Parliament has come to be accepted as a fact of life in the 10 years since it was born.
Given the controversies of its early years, the fact is worth acknowledging, as is the fact that all the unionist political parties appear to be agreed on the Calman approach as the best way to underpin the devolution settlement.
The Commission would be expected to highlight the areas of common interest between Scotland and the rest of the UK, and it expressly states that it is being careful not to undermine the economic union, while also coming up with the interesting concept of the "social union", its term for the common expectation of people across the UK in matters such as welfare benefits.
But the report is not a conservative one in its ambitions. Allowing the Scottish Parliament to have direct control over how it would raise a third of its revenue, through having to confirm the rate of the top slice of our income tax at both basic and higher levels, should mean the devolved Government being more in control, and being seen to be more in control, of its own destiny. With other measures designed to reduce the squabbling with Westminster over funding for specific projects, that would be an important step forward. With that would come greater accountability, whether or not it chose to depart from UK tax rates.
The fact that the SNP Government decided to counter with the announcement that proposals for an independence referendum - the legal possibilities for which are still in doubt - will be published on St Andrew's Day, shows that Calman has succeeded in setting an agenda. We are in for a fascinating year of political debate.