The next item of business is consideration of legislative consent motion S6M-18078, in the name of Jamie Hepburn, on the Absent Voting (Elections in Scotland and Wales) Bill, which is United Kingdom legislation.
Motion moved,
That the Parliament agrees that the relevant provisions of the Absent Voting (Elections in Scotland and Wales) Bill, introduced in the House of Commons on 16 October 2024, relating to local government elections (clause 1), elections to the Scottish Parliament (clause 2) and commencement and transitional provision (clause 4), so far as these matters fall within the legislative competence of the Scottish Parliament and alter the executive competence of the Scottish Ministers, should be considered by the UK Parliament.—[Jamie Hepburn]
21:32
I give my apologies to those who are in the chamber and those who are watching, who I will detain for slightly longer before decision time because of the Absent Voting (Elections in Scotland and Wales) Bill. If they are up to date, members will have the report from the Standards, Procedures and Public Appointments Committee regarding this private member’s bill, which is passing through the House of Commons and into the House of Lords and is guided by Tracy Gilbert MP, in which we recommend agreement to this LCM.
However, I will ensure that everything is above board and as transparent as we want and seek it to be here in Scotland. Although the Delegated Powers and Law Reform Committee did not produce a report, it did have some questions on this matter. The convener wrote to the Scottish Government today posing two questions on how decisions would be made regarding which authority will exercise power and how the Scottish Government intends to facilitate scrutiny by the Scottish Parliament on the policy position in the relevant regulations.
I compliment the Government and, in particular, the Minister for Parliamentary Business and the Cabinet Secretary for Finance and Local Government for being able to respond today to those two outstanding matters and confirming the Scottish Government’s position on them, which in no way alters the SPPA Committee’s view that consent should be given to the LCM.
21:34
I thank Martin Whitfield for giving me the opportunity to speak a little more—I will not speak for long—about the legislative consent motion. I should say that it was the Government's preference for there to be a section 30 order to transfer responsibility to this Parliament to legislate on the matter. That was the approach that I and the Government would have preferred but, unfortunately, the UK Government would not agree, which is regrettable.
I am genuinely grateful to Tracy Gilbert MP for taking the bill forward. It is important that we make it as straightforward as possible for voters in Scotland to be able to apply for a postal or proxy vote. This bill, should it pass through the UK Parliament, will achieve that.
I thank Martin Whitfield and the Standards, Procedures and Public Appointments Committee for the report that has been laid before the Parliament. I am sure that everyone has read it as assiduously as I have. The committee has considered the matter at pace. I am grateful for that.
Mr Whitfield made the point that, this morning, the Government received a copy of a letter from the Delegated Powers and Law Reform Committee, which asked a couple of questions. As Mr Whitfield mentioned, I responded to that letter today. I would have been very happy to go to the committee to speak to the matter, but it wrote to me and I responded today.
I will place on record some of the points that were raised by the committee, and how I responded. First, the committee asked how it will be decided which Government will exercise the delegated powers that are set out in the bill. I say to the Parliament that the Scottish Government intends to make the regulations under the power in the bill. Those will be subject to agreement by the UK Government, but they will be laid in the Scottish Parliament in the usual way.
The committee also asked how scrutiny by the Scottish Parliament of the policy position of those regulations will be ensured when the power is exercised by a minister of the Crown. The Scottish Government intends to exercise those powers to implement online applications for absent voting in devolved Scottish elections, and we would expect any future changes by a minister to be the subject of engagement and agreement. The Scottish ministers would seek to ensure that the Scottish Parliament had the opportunity to assess any changes in good time. We recognise the importance of parliamentary scrutiny, and we will make sure that that is possible in this case.
With that, I urge the Parliament to agree to the motion in my name.
The question on the motion will be put at decision time.