THE UK Government legislating in devolved areas is to be welcomed, the Tories tell us.
Never mind the Sewel Convention that says Westminster won’t usually fiddle in devolved areas. Never mind the billions in EU funds which used to be controlled from Edinburgh being replaced by millions controlled from London.
Only the SNP would whinge about Boris Johnson’s government involving itself in devolved affairs, the Tories say.
But God forbid that the Scottish Government might look at reserved areas. That would be a cardinal sin, those same Scottish Tories tell us.
Double standards are something of a speciality for Douglas Ross’s party, which claims to be tough on crime while being led by law-breakers.
If that seems “surreal”, the Scottish Tories’ chief whip set out to match it.
At a debate in Holyrood looking at a report into the “Scottish Government’s international work”, Tory MSP Stephen Kerr had a pretty predictable gripe.
“They never mention the United Kingdom," he said of Green and SNP MSPs.
“They seem to have made some kind of solemn and binding oath that they’ll not mention the United Kingdom.
“Well let me remind the members of this parliament: foreign policy is reserved. Foreign policy is reserved!
“Do we understand that in this Chamber? I hope we do!”
READ MORE: Nicola Sturgeon's work for Scotland on the world stage praised by top EU professor
After a brief intervention from the SNP’s Alasdair Allan which saw Kerr deny the Tories had been “trounced” at the council elections (ignore the facts), he went on.
“The purpose of my remarks is to remind members of the fact that we are part of the most successful partnership between two countries in the history of the world in the United Kingdom.
“I remind the Chamber again that foreign policy is reserved.”
Kerr went on to reminisce about a trip to Kenya he went on once as an MP, before asking Angus Robertson – the Constitution Secretary – to take the floor. Kerr said he’d been “muttering”.
The SNP minister asked when the Tory member would be addressing the topic of the debate, which is “Scotland’s work internationally” and not the existence of the UK or that time Kerr went to Kenya.
Kerr went on to say he had been addressing the topic of the debate, then went back to talking about his trip to Kenya.
It turned out Kerr’s point was that he’d seen the effect of “British” work internationally, and that showed how strong the UK is.
He kept going – stopping only briefly to take another intervention from Robertson who again asked when the topic of the debate would be addressed.
“Now that was a surreal speech,” SNP MSP Paul McLennan said when Kerr had finally finished.
Realistically though, seeing the Scottish Tory chief whip ramble on about the strength of the UK for nearly 10 minutes wasn’t that surreal at all.
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