THE first meeting of the new Scottish Parliament took place 21 years ago this week.
Yet for those sitting in the antiquated surrounds of the House of Lords, that hasn’t been nearly enough time to get to grips with it.
Labour peer George Foulkes certainly doesn’t seem to have fully understood the principles of devolution, despite having been an MSP for four years.
He’s once again distinguished himself online after he had a go at Nicola Sturgeon for deciding not to follow Boris Johnson’s relaxed lockdown strategy.
The First Minister said Holyrood’s message to the Scottish people remains stay at home, after Downing Street updated its slogan to “stay alert”.
The SNP leader also revealed that her government had not been consulted on the change.
READ MORE: People can’t get over how bad the UK Government’s new coronavirus slogan is
Reacting to her clarification, Foulkes posted: “Scotland is one of the nations of the United Kingdom & the UK Parliament remains responsible for all of the UK.”
But as BBC reporter James Cook pointed out, the peer’s statement was somewhat wide of the mark.
True. Except for agriculture, forestry, fisheries, education, training, environment, social services, housing, land use planning, policing, justice, local government, sport, the arts, some forms of taxation, some forms of welfare, many aspects of transport and, crucially, health. https://t.co/ByC2p5MLo5
— James Cook (@BBCJamesCook) May 10, 2020
READ MORE: George Foulkes claims SNP have 'hijacked' Holyrood
Further proving the point, the first ministers of Wales and Northern Ireland have also stated that they will not be abandoning the stay at home message.
Foulkes had managed to go four whole months without making a ridiculous statement about devolution, having claimed in January that the Scottish Parliament had been “hijacked” by the SNP.
Let’s hope he can hold out for a bit longer this time.
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