European Charter of Local Self-Government (Incorporation) (Scotland) Bill
This Member’s Bill was introduced by Andy Wightman MSP. The Bill proposes to incorporate the European Charter of Local Self-Government into Scots law.
The Bill ended Stage 3 on 23 March 2021
Contents
Overview
This Member’s Bill was introduced by Andy Wightman MSP. It proposes to incorporate the European Charter of Local Self-Government into Scots law.
The Charter is an international treaty of the Council of Europe signed by the UK in 1997. The Council of Europe is an international organisation founded in 1949 to uphold human rights, democracy and the rule of law in Europe. The Charter sets out some principles to protect the basic powers of local authorities.
Extra legislation is needed to give the international treaty the same status in Scots law as domestic laws. That is the purpose of this Bill.
Under this Bill, the following must be compatible with the Charter:
- actions that Scottish Ministers take within their devolved powers
- laws that are in the legislative competence of the Scottish Parliament
It will mean action can be taken in the courts to challenge these actions and laws if someone believes they may not be compatible.
You can read more about what this Bill does in the explanatory notes (138KB, pdf) posted 05 May 2020
Why the Bill was created
The member in charge of the Bill, Andy Wightman MSP, has introduced the Bill to strengthen the status and standing of local government.
Andy Wightman supports the principles of the Charter. He wants to make sure they are routinely applied by the Scottish Government.
He also wants to make sure that people who think those principles are not being followed can do something about that. This includes raising their concerns in a Scottish court.
You can read more about why this Bill has been created in the policy memorandum (339KB, pdf) posted 05 May 2020