Plenary,

Meeting date: Thursday, May 31, 2007

Official Report 642KB pdf

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Points of Order

On a point of order, Presiding Officer. I wonder whether you are able to advise back benchers who might be concerned about the impact on their constituencies of what the minister has just said about certain capital projects. He has indicated that there will be a substantial financial review of capital transport plans. Will you welcome an invitation to the minister to give a statement to Parliament about any implications for the Borders railway which, on the basis of those comments, might now be under threat?

With the greatest respect, I do not think that that is a point of order. I am sure that, in the consensual spirit with which the Government has approached the matter, it would be open to any approach that you make.

On the subject of points of order, I undertook to respond to the point of order that Margo MacDonald raised at the end of First Minister's question time. I have to say that the Executive is bound by acts of the Scottish Parliament which, under section 28(1) of the Scotland Act 1998, are laws. The 1998 act also provides that certain resolutions of the Scottish Parliament—for example, a tax-varying resolution made under section 73(2) and a resolution based on a motion of no confidence made under section 47(3)—shall have special effect. In other circumstances, a resolution of the Parliament cannot place a legal obligation on the Scottish Executive. Normally, such resolutions do not have the force of law and therefore cannot bind the Executive to any course of action.

On a point of order, Presiding Officer. I hesitate to pursue this point but I imagine that, given that the Parliament is so finely balanced, it will be revisited in future. We need to know exactly where we stand and which resolutions are or are not binding. If I inadvertently gave the impression that Donald Dewar said that none was binding, I apologise.

The First Minister referred to what he said was a quotation from the late First Minister. I have before me a copy of that very quotation. Donald Dewar said:

"The position is simply that this Parliament is master at the end of the day, but that not every motion that is passed by this Parliament is binding upon the Executive."—[Official Report, 16 September 1999; Vol 2, c 555.]

He then went on to indicate how the Parliament could assert its supremacy. With the greatest of respect, Presiding Officer, I think that we could still do with some clarification of the matter.

I return that respect, Ms MacDonald. I think that I have laid out quite clearly what has been said. We are now entering the realms of the hypothetical, and we will deal with the issue if it comes before me again. For the time being, I have made the chair's position quite clear.