With the fallout from the Scottish Budget beginning to fade – for the moment at least – this was another week dominated by talk of a second Scottish Independence Referendum.
On Tuesday, First Minister Nicola Sturgeon told an audience in Edinburgh that so-called IndyRef2 may be the only way to ‘protect the interests of Scotland’ in the wake of Brexit. She claimed that pushing through a ‘hard Brexit’, against the will of the Scottish people, serves only to highlight the democratic deficit faced by the Scottish Government. This, she said, proves that after 20 years of progress, Scottish devolution is under threat.
Scotland Secretary, David Mundell, responded the next day by guaranteeing that more devolved powers will be transferred from the EU to Scotland, but refused to specify what those powers would be. When the specific question of devolving fisheries and agriculture policy was raised during Prime Minister’s Questions, Theresa May side-stepped the issue and instead told SNP Commons Leader Angus Robertson that the UK was in the process of discussing policy with devolved administrations, but it would be the UK Government which negotiated with the EU on behalf of these administrations.
In light of Nicola Sturgeon’s warning that Scottish devolution is under threat, the PM’s refusal to guarantee the transfer of these powers to Scotland was surprising to many. As fisheries and agriculture are not reserved matters, many observers, including some prominent Conservatives, have called for their devolution to Holyrood. In addition, the Leave campaign in Scotland made the transfer of these powers a key component to their argument for exiting the EU.
The ongoing debate around the transfer of these powers has played into the Scottish Government’s narrative of threats to devolution, promises broken by Westminster, and bolstered their argument that Scotland must pursue a new referendum. Expect to hear much more on this subject in the lead up to the SNP conference in two weeks’ time, but note carefully the First Minister’s reluctance to make firm commitments on any timetable. Nicola Sturgeon will not call a new referendum until she feels utterly confident that she will win it, and the fact she said that she hopes the UK Government will ‘change course’ on Brexit could be a signal that she is not quite there yet.
As much as the prospect of Indyref2 dominates the headlines, the Scottish Government does still have a country to run so talk of independence took a backseat during Thursday’s First Minister’s Questions, where debate over reforms to Scotland’s education system led to fiery exchanges.
It followed the announcement that planned education reforms have been delayed after the Government received over 1,000 responses to its Education Governance Review. The FM claimed that it was right for the Government to take the time to fully consider the submissions, but was accused of ‘kicking the can down the road’ by Ruth Davidson.
Kezia Dugdale also accused the First Minister of ‘doing nothing to improve Scottish schools’ and centralising education funding – a statement which caused much derision amongst the SNP benches, considering their new policy of allocating £120 million directly to head teachers.
Education reform has become a hot-topic recently, with the Sutton Report indicating a significant decline in standards. The Scottish Government is set to introduce an Education Bill later this year, so it’s no surprise that MSPs seem set on further politicising education.
With Scottish conference season now upon us, the arguments around devolution and independence, as well as already devolved issues such as education, are likely to further intensify in the coming weeks. As this week proves, even seemingly quiet weeks can finish with fireworks in Scottish politics!