SNP MSP Accused Over Mundell Letter

A Conservative MSP has accused a senior SNP MSP of misleading the Scottish Secretary over the extent of opposition to the Scotland Bill at Holyrood.

SNP MSP Bruce Crawford, convener of Holyrood's Devolution Committee, has written to Scottish Secretary David Mundell expressing the committee's view that the Scotland Bill still fails to meet the spirit and substance of the Smith Commission on Devolution.

But Tory committee member Alex Johnstone has distanced himself from the letter and accompanying press release, insisting Bruce Crawford and this misleading press release most certainly do not speak for me''.

The committee's interim report in May unanimously concluded that an earlier draft of the Bill did not live up to the aspirations of Smith and Mr Mundell returned with a series of amendments.

The Scottish Parliament Information Centre (Spice) scrutinised the published Bill for the committee and concluded that it contains no substantive changes'' on issues such as the permanency of the Scottish Parliament, inter-governmental relations and dispute resolution, the Crown Estate, new benefits, the definition of carers, disability and the perceivedveto power'' on universal credit.

The committee has now concluded by majority that it still falls short.

The letter, Spice report and press release make no mention of Mr Johnstone's dissent from the committee's conclusions.

In his letter, Mr Crawford said: The committee's interim report and its conclusions and recommendations were agreed unanimously on a cross-party basis.

At our committee meeting today, the committee considered the Scotland Bill.

The purpose of our meeting was to consider the content of the Bill and the extent to which the UK Government has been able to amend the Bill in light of the conclusions and recommendations in our interim report.

Whilst the committee appreciates the improvements made to the Bill to date, we consider that the changes remain fairly limited whilst many of the recommendations contained in the committee's interim report remain to be addressed.

Accordingly, the committee considers that whilst some progress has been made, the Scotland Bill does not meet, at this point, the spirit and substance of the Smith Commission's recommendations.''

Mr Johnstone said: I can safely say there was no unanimity on conclusions reached today. Bruce Crawford and this misleading press release most certainly do not speak for me.''

Deputy First Minister John Swinney said: I welcome this report and agree with its conclusion that in a number of key areas the clauses of the Scotland Bill do not meet the spirit or substance of the Smith Agreement.

I expect the UK Government to take the unanimous views of the Devolution Committee very seriously and now amend the Scotland Bill to ensure that it fully meets the Smith recommendations.

We will continue to press the Prime Minister to devolve further job-creating and revenue-raising powers to the Scottish Parliament which go beyond those powers proposed by the Smith Commission, but the immediate priority is making sure the Scotland Bill passes the basic test of delivering what has been promised to the people of Scotland.''

The Scottish Secretary has been invited to give evidence to the committee on June 18 and the Deputy First Minister on June 25.