DAVID Mundell has once again proven himself to be the man with none of the answers.
The hapless Scotland Secretary was given an opportunity by the SNP’s Tommy Sheppard to put to bed, once and for all, rumours of a post-Brexit Tory power grab on Holyrood.
All Sheppard needed was a simple update on the Joint Ministerial Committee’s progress on agreeing common frameworks “which will constrain the operation of devolved powers after Brexit”.
He even broke the query down into manageable bite-sized chunks for the Scottish Tory MP.
- How many have been agreed?
- Which have been agreed?
- And what date does Mundell expect the remainder to be completed?
Mundell rose to his feet, filled his lungs and gave his answer. He returned his backside to the Commons bench 14 seconds later.
He had said: “I can advise the Rt Hon Gentleman, which he will be aware – that in the EU Withdrawal Act the Government is obliged to inform Parliament of those matters and a report will be brought forward in the very near future.”
Asked and answered? Not quite.
“Sounds as if he doesn’t know,” Sheppard replied in a brazenly unsurprised tone – almost as if he’s used to this kind of evasion from Mundell...
Looks like the UK government are squaring up to impose frameworks on the Scottish government which they are not in agreement with - the #powergrab continues. pic.twitter.com/LH82yNvTp9
— Tommy Sheppard MP (@TommySheppard) October 17, 2018
Having failed to elicit any new information from the Tory, Sheppard was forced to provide some answers of his own.
“The truth is that in only one in four of the 24 areas have frameworks been agreed and it is now practically impossible for the exercise to be completed by March 29,” he said.
Having done Mundell’s job for him, Sheppard was kind enough to offer some career guidance with his follow-up question.
He asked: “Given that the Secretary of State has threatened to resign – really this is something he should resign over – but if he doesn’t resign, will he give an assurance her today to rule out the use of Section 12 orders to impose frameworks against the consent of devolved administrations?”
Determined to dispel fears of a Tory power grab, Mundell doubtless put Sheppard’s mind at ease with his answer. “When the Government is obliged to bring forward a report to Parliament, that’s what it wishes to do, in which both his first and second questions will be answered.”
In the meantime, we're obviously meant to content ourselves with total non-answers, as our democracy comes under serious threat.
Why are you making commenting on The National only available to subscribers?
We know there are thousands of National readers who want to debate, argue and go back and forth in the comments section of our stories. We’ve got the most informed readers in Scotland, asking each other the big questions about the future of our country.
Unfortunately, though, these important debates are being spoiled by a vocal minority of trolls who aren’t really interested in the issues, try to derail the conversations, register under fake names, and post vile abuse.
So that’s why we’ve decided to make the ability to comment only available to our paying subscribers. That way, all the trolls who post abuse on our website will have to pay if they want to join the debate – and risk a permanent ban from the account that they subscribe with.
The conversation will go back to what it should be about – people who care passionately about the issues, but disagree constructively on what we should do about them. Let’s get that debate started!
Callum Baird, Editor of The National
Comments: Our rules
We want our comments to be a lively and valuable part of our community - a place where readers can debate and engage with the most important local issues. The ability to comment on our stories is a privilege, not a right, however, and that privilege may be withdrawn if it is abused or misused.
Please report any comments that break our rules.
Read the rules hereLast Updated:
Report this comment Cancel