open Democracy News Analysis - Calman issues first report on future of devolution, Tom Griffin - Comments

Dougthedug on "Calman issues first report on future of devolution"

Dougthedug — Wed, 03 Dec 2008 19:20:09 +0000

Alex Buchan wrote:

It is clear now that it does not see its role as restricted to merely considering which extra powers could be devolved, but is far more concerned with what it sees as the proper balance between devolved and reserved powers as the following extracts show.

I agree with most of you post Alex but the Calman Commission was never about considering extra powers. If you go back to the remit of the Commission which is in para. 1.1 it says:

Calman Commission wrote:

To review the provisions of the Scotland Act 1998 in the light of experience and to recommend any changes to the present constitutional arrangements that would enable the Scottish Parliament to serve the people of Scotland better, improve the financial accountability of the Scottish Parliament, and continue to secure the position of Scotland within the United Kingdom.

In simple terms the Calman Commission is about improving the functioning of the Scottish Parliament within the Union and making the Scottish Parliament in some way responsible for raising the money it spends. It is nothing to do with any Scottish aspirations of more autonomy and all about ensuring that Wesminster has full control of all important economic, energy and planning policies to defend the Union and to remove any potential flashpoints.

Under the Section "Financial Accountability" in the Summary it says in para. 9.17:

Calman Commission wrote:

The balance between conflicting principles should be determined not by technical considerations, but by the constitutional objectives that the funding system is designed to support.

In other words, the financing of the Scottish Parliament is not to be the best system for Scotland but the system which causes the least problems for the Union.

The Liberals are finally coming to the conclusion that most others came to at the inception of the Calman Commission, that they are a bunch of suckers and Labour and Brown have hooked, played and landed them.

Their cherished pipedream of, "Financial Autonomy", within the UK has just been shot down and what's left is a Commission to return powers to Westminster.

The SNP avoided the Calman Commission like the plague as they saw through it from the start, the Conservatives are quite happy to see powers returned to Westminster and Labour set it up with the express purpose of ensuring that Westminster had all the real levers of powers.

Only the Lib-Dems marched in with happy smiles and empty heads and thought the Calman Commission was set up to give more powers to Scotland.

alex_buchan on "Calman issues first report on future of devolution"

alex_buchan — Tue, 02 Dec 2008 20:51:16 +0000

Close reading of the report shows that it is far less provisional than is being reported. It is clear now that it does not see its role as restricted to merely considering which extra powers could be devolved, but is far more concerned with what it sees as the proper balance between devolved and reserved powers as the following extracts show.

4.22 “to understand the place of devolution within the Union, and the proper balance
between devolution and reservation”

4.23 “Especially because of the way in which powers are devolved unless specifically reserved, we have also very much borne in mind the significant changes in the landscape since the devolution settlement was designed-such as the new threats posed by global terrorism and the emergence of climate change”

4.39 “all parts of the UK must join together for defence and security. To say this is not of course to endorse any particular defence or security policy, but to assert that these issues should be decided at UK level in the best interests of all UK citizens. In ensuring the defence of the United Kingdom it is right that there be no risk of a lack of clarity.”

4.41 “As the incident at Glasgow Airport in June 2007 illustrates, terrorism does not recognise the Scottish/English border,”

These are not just dry technical points but are highly political. They clearly relate to extending reserved powers on terrorism, nuclear power and Trident. The phrase “this is not of course to endorse any particular defence or security policy” unwittingly shows what the real object of their concern is.

The true nature of the Calman exercise is now becoming clear. Shortly after Wendy Alexander’s announcement of this initiative, Gordon Brown said to the heads of the select committees that the devolution settlement is not a form of federalism; Parliament remains supreme and powers can be taken back as well as extended. He saw the newly appointed commission as a tidying up exercise.

For those who think otherwise, there will be no disagreement within the commission, they have chosen their placemen well and they will get no trouble from the Lib Dem’s Audrey Findlay and Jim Wallace. But Calman’s inclusion of opinion poll results showing a decline over the years in declared support for independence as against devolution may lead the commissioners to misjudge Scottish sentiment.

Much has changed in Scottish attitudes since the election of the SNP government. This report suggests that these commissioners, like Labour, are blind to this. They are counting on a residual loyalty to the Union, but it is not loyalty, primarily, that produced these opinion poll results, rather it is fear of the uncertainty that Independence represents.

Calman is an attack in the making on the positive democratic gains that the Scottish people have achieved. A concerted non-party campaign needs to be launched to counter this, it cannot be allowed to be seen as a purely SNP versus Labour fight, much bigger things are at stake.

Calman issues first report on future of devolution, Tom Griffin

Tom Griffin — Tue, 02 Dec 2008 14:01:56 +0000

Tom Griffin (London, OK): The Calman Commission on the future of Scottish devolution has today published its first report. It's very much a provisional exercise, but it provides some important indications of the Commission's thinking.

The maintenance of the union was always going to be a key principle for the Commission, which is backed by the three main unionist parties in Scotland and boycotted by the SNP. However, even within the unionist spectrum, it has become increasingly clear that Calman is headed for a much more cautious set of proposals than the fiscal autonomy advocated by the Lib Dem Steel Commission.

Today's report states:

our consideration of finance follows from our discussion of the nature of the Union. As well as being an economic Union, the UK has a shared social citizenship. Greater tax devolution would be associated with less shared social citizenship, while high dependence on grant funding implies some common expectations about the need for welfare services like health and education. We have not reached a view on the appropriate point in what is a spectrum of possibilities, but we do recognise that this must reflect the expectations of the Scottish population. In the next phase of our work, with further help from the Independent Expert Group, we will identify the possible combinations of the funding mechanisms and their implications for the nature of the Union.

The Commission has identified a number of areas where there is a case for further devolution of powers, including: "broadcasting; energy policy; animal health and movement; firearms; misuse of drugs; regulation of heath care professionals; and marine planning among others."

The concept of a 'common social citizenship' has clearly played an important role in the Commission's thinking, but many in England would question how far common expectations about health and education provision exist today.