EVEL will cause civil service problems and government “bottlenecks” as Scottish MPs continue to argue on issues affecting their constituents, the former director of the Scotland Office has claimed.
Giving evidence to the House of Lords Constitution Committee yesterday, Alun Evans said he was surprised English votes for English laws had been enacted so quickly, rather than “given more considerable thought”.
However, Evans said the impact of the legislation on the business of government was becoming plain after planned changes to Sunday trading laws in England had to be shelved when the SNP threatened to block them.
The party argued the proposals would impact on Scottish retail workers, potentially driving down wages.
Evans told the committee: “We are already seeing the potential pressures and bottlenecks it will make to the Speaker in terms of making decisions.
“And if you look at the example of Sunday trading in Scotland and England, there is probably an argument which can be made that any policy in England could theoretically have implications for Scotland. We will get this problem in every policy area.” Arguing for structural reform, Evans, who has now left the civil service, argued that “the days of independent departments for Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland and the Cabinet Office are past”.
He said: “The more important issue is to get a different culture within UK Government departments and celebrating what’s been achieved instead of fighting against it.”
When asked about Better Together’s “negative” campaign, he said: “One of the big problems was that you had three parties that agreed on nothing other than their opposition to independence.
“There wasn’t as it were the stepping back and thinking ‘what are the best arguments we can make in defence of the union’ and as a result they then retreated to rather negative arguments.
“I’m slightly depressed looking back at it. I’m not sure it could have been done differently, but I think it should have been.”
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