I thank the Finance and Constitution Committee and the Delegated Powers and Law Reform Committee for their speedy work on the legislative consent motion, which has been necessitated by the timetable set at Westminster and the Scottish Government’s desire to ensure that the House of Commons is aware of the Scottish Parliament’s view of the bill prior to the conclusion of its stages in that chamber.
I note the report from the Finance and Constitution Committee, which has just come to hand, and its conclusion that the committee recommends that the Scottish Parliament does not consent to the European Union (Withdrawal Agreement) Bill—a conclusion that was dissented from by Adam Tomkins, Murdo Fraser and Alexander Burnett.
I also note the other issues raised, including a request by the committee that the United Kingdom Government and the Scottish Government give their views on the changes that are required to the Sewel convention. I am happy to do so, and I have done so repeatedly to UK ministers, but they have never come back to me on those matters. It would be illuminating to know whether the UK Government has such a view, and how it could be taken forward.
I also note the observations of the Delegated Powers and Law Reform Committee with regard to the issues of scrutiny, the exercise of joint powers, the programming of secondary and other Brexit legislation, the ability of UK ministers to legislate in devolved areas and the use of the affirmative procedure. I will respond to each of those issues in more detail in writing, but I am in broad agreement with the committee on all those matters, and am keen to work with it to ensure that there is effective scrutiny. To that end, discussions are under way about a new protocol between the Scottish Government and the Scottish Parliament, and I hope that the UK Government—even at this late stage—will recognise the need to be part of that process.
Last month, Boris Johnson and his Conservative Party suffered a heavy defeat in Scotland. The Tories lost more than half their MPs and now have barely 10 per cent of Scottish Westminster seats. Their Brexit plans were roundly rejected by the people of Scotland. Indeed, around 75 per cent of voters in Scotland supported parties that either want to remain in the EU or support a second EU referendum. Moreover, that result followed the EU referendum in 2016, the UK election in 2017 and the European election last year, all of which sent the unambiguous message that Scotland wants to remain in the European Union. That message has been relayed time and time again. That message to the Prime Minister is as clear today as it was yesterday and will be tomorrow. Let me put it this way: Prime Minister, we said no to Brexit, and we mean it. [Interruption.] However, the Prime Minister is not listening to the Scottish people, just as his party—as we can hear—is not listening, because, in three weeks’ time, it is virtually certain that Scotland will be taken out of the European Union against our will, and each of us will be forcibly stripped of our European citizenship against our specific wishes. That is an intolerable position, and this Parliament, as the voice of Scotland, must say so. Therefore, at the outset of today’s debate, I urge this Parliament—all of this Parliament—to refuse consent to the bill and, in so doing, to say that we do not consent to being forced out of the EU.
The European Union is founded on values: democracy, equality, human dignity and respect for human rights and the rule of law. It has rolled back barriers to travel, work, study and trade across our continent. It has eased the movement of goods and workers, allowed the integration of supply chains and set standards of protection for the environment and workers’ rights. Perhaps above all, it has been the guarantor of peace and prosperity across Europe for more than five decades. Why should we consent to a process that removes Scotland from that project, strips people in Scotland of their rights and will cost jobs and living standards, all against our will?
This is a sad moment in the history of Scotland and the United Kingdom—a moment at odds with the outward-looking and internationalist values that so many of us, right across the UK, hold dear. The withdrawal agreement bill is a vehicle for implementing this disastrous process in domestic law. The withdrawal agreement that is contained in and amplified by the bill is deeply damaging to the UK, as the Scottish Government has set out in detail before. It is particularly bad for Scotland, as all the evidence shows, and it is uniquely offensive to Scottish democracy. England and Wales voted to leave and are leaving. Northern Ireland will have its own arrangements for closer alignment and the right to decide its own future. Scotland, alone of the four nations, voted remain but is being forced to leave with no special arrangements or say over its future relationship with the European Union. It is therefore axiomatic that any Scottish Government must recommend to any Scottish Parliament that it refuse consent for something of such massive significance and consequence to be done to us, which the Scottish people, to whom we report, have clearly, consistently and specifically rejected.
I believe that that argument on its own should be enough for all of us to refuse consent to the withdrawal agreement bill this afternoon. However, there are other strong reasons for doing so. The bill is in its third iteration. A first version was developed to implement the May deal, it was redrafted to implement the Johnson deal and it was revised to reflect the manifesto upon which the Tories stood in December—a manifesto that was rejected by Scotland. In each iteration, the withdrawal agreement bill has weakened parliamentary and devolved Administrations’ scrutiny and involvement, further undermined the rights of citizens and society and strengthened an already overbearing Executive.
In addition, the bill puts a no-deal Brexit firmly back on the table through the reckless and irresponsible determination of the UK Government to legislate to prohibit itself from seeking any extension to the implementation period. During the bill’s second reading in the House of Commons, Keir Starmer referred to the UK Government’s prohibition on extending the implementation period as “reckless and ridiculous”, and I echo that sentiment.
It is no secret that, like Scotland, the Scottish Government is opposed to Brexit. If it is to happen, however, we must do everything to limit the damage. That should mean the UK remaining in the single market and the customs union. We first argued that case in “Scotland’s Place in Europe” more than three years ago, and we have developed it further since that time. However, the UK Government has contemptuously ignored those proposals while bringing forward a close variant of them for Northern Ireland, and it is now adding insult to injury by imposing a hard Brexit process and outcome, with a completely arbitrary end date for necessary discussion and negotiation.
Negotiating a free trade agreement is extremely complex. Attempting to secure a deal between a former member and the EU will be a unique activity. As the President of the Commission has said today in London, doing so in under a year is unrealistic, especially if the UK is attempting at the same time to negotiate trade arrangements with the United States and other non-EU countries. It is undoubtedly true that only the narrowest and most superficial free trade arrangement could be agreed by the end of 2020. Any deal that avoids that risk so as to minimise the damage of Brexit would definitely need an extension beyond 2020. Therefore, legislating to rule out an extension does nothing but vastly increase the risk and likelihood of a no-deal exit.
The bill removes previous provisions safeguarding workers’ rights, which are to be replaced by a potential new separate bill—although it has only been promised and has never been seen by anyone. The same weak undertaking is attached to the removal of environmental protections. The Scottish Government has no confidence that the UK Government will maintain existing protections in any area, let alone strengthen them. Why would we believe that people who have spent their entire political lives decrying the high standards agreed in Europe would now lift a finger to maintain them? Of course they will not do that. They want them gone—and it is usually because they can profit by their removal.
In addition, the proposals on the removal of employment protections cut right across the Scottish Government’s commitment to fair work: a commitment that is central to the Scottish Government’s economic strategy and that is good for workers, good for business and good for Scotland. That decision by the UK Government leaves Scottish workers highly vulnerable to a deterioration in their conditions.
Amazingly, there is another group of people whom the bill has treated even more appallingly: unaccompanied children seeking asylum. They are among the most vulnerable people in the world: children who have been separated from their parents or any other adult familiar to them and who have witnessed horrors that we cannot fathom. It is therefore extraordinary—and almost inexplicable in its inhumanity—that the UK Government plans to remove from the European Union (Withdrawal) Act 2018 the provision on negotiating arrangements to conform with the Dublin III regulation. That would mean that the UK Government would no longer be bound to negotiate appropriate agreements with the EU on unifying families and supporting vulnerable children. Instead, it will merely make a statement of its policy towards such children within two months. That is not a commitment of any sort, and it will not help a single child or stop a single tragedy. How can that be defended by any elected member in this chamber or any other?
As I conclude, I will touch briefly on wider migration issues. Scotland’s Parliament has a duty to protect the rights and wellbeing of EU citizens who have chosen to make Scotland their home. In addition, it is in our interests to continue to attract people from across the EU to visit, study, work and live here in the future. Freedom of movement is not a burden for Scotland; it is a boon. Its ending is something that we should not celebrate but condemn.
As the Scottish Parliament has already agreed, the UK Government should not be making EU citizens apply to maintain rights that they already have. Instead, it should implement in UK law—without precondition or unnecessary bureaucracy—the commitment made to protect EU citizens’ rights in the UK that was set out in the withdrawal agreement. There is no reason to tie that to agreement to the rest of the deal. Although we recognise that there is no guarantee that the EU would similarly ring fence UK citizens’ rights from the withdrawal agreement, that should not prevent the UK Government from doing the right thing here and now.
Nonetheless, I strongly urge EU nationals to apply for and obtain settled status. I dislike the scheme as much as they do. I am angry that the UK Government has implemented it and that last night in the House of Commons it would not even accept its many flaws. I want to do more to protect EU nationals who live here, and encourage more to come here, but at present, the Scottish Government can do so only by ensuring that the law is observed. The first step is therefore to ensure that each citizen has the right to be here according to the law as it now is. We will stand alongside every EU national who has done so and who has that status, and we will protect them in every way that we are currently able to while seeking more powers to do so, as a regular nation would do.
The withdrawal agreement bill is one of the most important pieces of legislation ever considered by the UK Parliament, the Scottish Parliament and the National Assembly for Wales. It will involve a fundamental adjustment to the constitution and will have far-reaching implications for everyone—not only on these islands, but across our continent. We cannot approve it, because it goes contrary to the wishes of the majority of the people of Scotland. We cannot approve it, because there has been no attempt by the UK to involve us in any sort of mutually agreeable Brexit process. Indeed, the reverse has been the case for the past three and a half years. We cannot approve it, because it alters and diminishes the basic rights of so many, including some of our most vulnerable fellow human beings.
The views of everyone in Scotland are equally valid—both those who voted to remain and those who voted to leave. However, we have a duty to respect the clear and consistent majority opposition in Scotland to leaving the European Union. The decision to leave was a bad decision, but we did not take it. This is a bad bill, and we should not approve it. Many of us now recognise that we live under a bad constitutional settlement, which the people of Scotland—and no one else—have the right to change.
However, no matter what members’ views on that might be, today this Parliament has a clear duty to express its opposition to both Brexit and the approach that the bill takes to Brexit. The Scottish Government therefore has no hesitation in recommending that the Parliament explicitly rejects the request for its consent to the European Union (Withdrawal Agreement) Bill.
I move,
That the Parliament notes the legislative consent memorandum on the European Union (Withdrawal Agreement) Bill lodged by the Scottish Government on 20 December 2019; further notes that people in Scotland voted remain and for remain parties, most recently at the UK General Election on 12 December 2019; considers that the Withdrawal Agreement negotiated by the UK Government would cause damage to Scotland’s environment, economic and social interests; regrets that the European Union (Withdrawal Agreement) Bill has been amended to remove important protections from workers’ rights and asylum-seeking children, and to prohibit an extension of the implementation period to negotiate the future relationship with the EU; regrets that the European Union (Withdrawal Agreement) Bill is to proceed through the UK Parliament with minimal scrutiny, failing to respect the significance of the decision to be taken by, or the role of, the Scottish Parliament in scrutinising legislation requiring its legislative consent; is determined to respect and uphold the views of the people of Scotland on this crucial issue to the future of the nation, and therefore does not support the Withdrawal Agreement and Political Declaration negotiated by the UK Government, and does not consent to the European Union (Withdrawal Agreement) Bill that would implement that agreement.