SCOTTISH secretary David Mundell and deputy first minister John Swinney clashed over further devolution powers when they appeared before Holyrood’s Devolution Committee yesterday.
Swinney said the Scotland Bill was inadequate, particularly in relation to social security and employment support.
Conservative MP Mundell said SNP amendments to the Bill would lead to £10 billion in spending cuts.
The Scotland Bill currently passing through Westminster followed the publication of recommendations by the Smith Commission on further devolution.
The Scottish Government has argued that the legislation does not fully deliver on the cross-party Smith agreement.
It also wants additional powers over business taxes, employment policy, a number of benefits and equality law.
According to Swinney, there are still “significant deficiencies” in the legislation.
He said: “Since the publication of the draft clauses in January, the [Scottish] Government has made a range of suggestions of areas where we believed the draft clauses needed to be revised to deliver the substance of and the spirit of the Smith Commission.”
He continued: “On publication of the bill we have continued that effort and set out a range of different areas where we believe that should be the case.
“The only area where there has been any meaningful change in the substance of clauses is in welfare, with the addition of a power to create benefits to top-up reserved benefits although ... not in respect of mitigation of sanctions that would be undertaken as a consequence of the wider UK approach on welfare reform.”
Mundell told the committee the Conservative government would resist SNP calls for full tax and spending powers to be handed over to Holyrood.
He said: “Full fiscal autonomy was not in the Smith agreement and it is not going to be added to the Scotland Bill.
“It would be bad for Scotland – leaving us with £10bn less to spend by the end of this parliament,” he added.
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 here