In a Parliamentary debate in London yesterday, Mark Lazarowicz called for as wide a consensus as possible on further devolution of powers to Holyrood as a way of healing divisions after the Independence Referendum.
Clearly the starting point for such proposals should be the pledge to devolve more spending, tax and welfare powers to the Scottish Parliament, as set out in the vow agreed by the three UK party leaders before the referendum. There should be substantial devolution of tax matters, but at the same time we must maintain the principle of sharing and pooling resources throughout the UK, as that was a central point in the campaign — many of us made it a central case in our argument for maintaining the Union — and tax arrangements should recognise that. We should also be talking about a wide range of additional powers, and they have already been set out in some of the proposals put before the Smith commission.
In addition, the Labour Westminster MP for Edinburgh North and Leith argued that a constitutional convention is necessary for the whole of the UK, looking at such issues as the West Lothian Question and reform of the House of Lords.
He seeks ways to address the ‘alienation’ many people feel from the political process.
A related Adjornment debate was led today by ex-prime minister Gordon Brown.
The full text of Lazarowicz’s speech is available here.