Scotland Bill

We certainly support the principle of devolving the aggregates levy, but I wish to make sure that when we scrutinise the Bill we do so in the interests of the people of Scotland. There is genuine concern about court proceedings—interestingly, the hon. Gentleman failed to mention the comments by the British Aggregates Association in the report on the legislative consent motion, which said that it was sure that it was going to win the court case. Well, we will just have to see when that case comes to court. However, I would not want a Scottish Administration to be responsible for the risks that may result from a loss in that case, because that would not be in the interests of the Scottish taxpayer. The report by the Holyrood Committee offers an exceptional exposition of the contentious remarks made over a number of years by the Scottish Government about why fiscal decentralisation would be to the benefit of the Scottish economy. We support the measures in the Bill, because we believe that they will make the Scottish Government and Scottish Parliament more accountable to the taxpayer. They already benefit from uniquely broad spending powers, and the Bill rightly makes that power more accountable to the electorate. However, as the Committee knows, the Scottish Government argued prior to the establishment of the Committee at Holyrood that full fiscal decentralisation would grow the Scottish economy by an extra 1% per year. I refer hon. Members to paragraph 37 of that report, which states that"““the First Minister's claim—of an additional 1% growth per year—is an exaggerated version of what Professors Hughes Hallett and Scott have stated in their research.””" The Committee concluded that the evidential base for the statements made by Professors Hughes Hallett and Scott was, in its words, ““remarkably weak”” and that claims did not stand up to scrutiny. The Scottish Government did not provide any detail in the legislative consent motion. It is interesting that the Scottish National party is proposing two further taxes, fuel duty and corporation tax, and spent, on my reckoning, just under 20 minutes presenting what is apparently a full case explaining why those should be devolved to the Scottish Parliament. That, again, follows a pattern. There are no costings, no specification, and no material explaining the practical implications for taxpayers, employers and Scotland's financial sector, or the collection plans.