The proposition is not well founded, with respect. The Smith commission is not binding this Parliament in any sense. Whatever the wording of the Smith commission agreement itself, it does not and could not bind this Parliament; it will be for the Parliament of the United Kingdom to decide whether it passes this Bill into law. So I do not accept the underlying proposition that was relied on by my noble friend Lord Cormack in that context.
On the terms of subsection (2) of new Section 63A, a point was raised about the words,
“with due regard to the other provisions of this Act”.
In my submission, those are helpful, because the other provisions of this Act include the cross-references to Section 28 and, in particular, Section 28(7) of the Scotland Act 1998. There again, you have underlined the sovereignty of the United Kingdom Parliament and the right of this Parliament to legislate on all matters, including devolved matters, in respect of Scotland.
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The noble and learned Lord, Lord McCluskey, suggested an amendment to proposed new Section 63A(2) by inserting the word “only”, but as the definite article is already employed in subsection (2) we would adopt the position that the meaning is already clear and the word “only” is not required in that context.
Amendment 6 was based on the SNP amendments tabled to Clause 1 during the Bill’s consideration in the other place and seeks to provide that permanence could be repealed only if the people of Scotland voting in a referendum and the Scottish Parliament consented to it.