My Lords, I do not seek to dominate the debates in this Committee and I hope that my amendments will soon give way to others. This is a simple but timeless point. In these amendments I seek to ensure that the devolved Executives are included in both the reporting of the accounting process and in the reporting process of this particular office or of the adjudicator.
I expect, and will anticipate in my argument, that the response to that would have been that this is not a devolved matter; it is a reserved matter and the proper accountabilities are therefore restricted to the organs of reserved, UK government. I probably would have deployed that argument when I was a Minister myself. However, only yesterday, those of us who believe in the union came together politically in a campaign called Better Together to persuade the people of Scotland that we are better together than separate. In my political life, this is the most important decision that the people
of Scotland will make. Part of the reason why those who seek to divide us are confident that they will be able to persuade the people of Scotland is that they conduct the politics of grievance constantly. They seek issues on which Scotland is treated differently or with disrespect. They say that those who allowed Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland a degree of devolution did so reluctantly for political convenience, did not actually mean it and operate the rules in a nit-picking fashion which does not respect our institutions or those which they have set up.
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In order to address that issue, among others, when I was the Secretary of State for Scotland we set up the Calman commission, which reported in the document Serving Scotland Better in June 2009. I will not take up the Committee’s time by reading this, but I commend part 4, pages 141 and 142, particularly recommendation 4.1. It essentially says that part of the future of the United Kingdom is for us to show the degree of respect that we would expect to other parts of the constitutional settlement that we have. This adjudicator, whatever his powers are, will operate in an area which is reserved in competition law, but which will have effects in areas that are devolved. It seems to me that if we really mean that we are better together, and if we have respect, then we should go beyond the legalities and say that it is sensible that this adjudicator should send his reports to the devolved Executives and consult them if necessary on occasion. We should respect the constitutional settlement that we have made: not the law, but the reality of it and the way in which people behave. If we start to do more of that, we will undermine quite significantly the arguments of those who seek to divide us.
I offer the noble Baroness, who I know supports the union, and the coalition Government, who I know support the union, an opportunity today to send a message to Scotland and to other parts of the union through the devolved structures, that we have a mature and relaxed relationship with them and that we will not fight their right to get access to the information which they will need to be able to exercise their devolved powers properly in areas that this will affect. I beg to move.