FORMER Scottish secretary Alister Jack has asked the UK Government to review what is devolved to the Holyrood parliament and cut its powers.
Jack, who took a seat in the House of Lords after leaving government at the 2024 General Election, said that there was “a list” of areas which he wanted to see explicitly reserved to the UK Government.
The 1998 Scotland Act spells out what is reserved to Westminster – such as the Union, defence, currency, and immigration – with everything else being devolved to Holyrood.
Speaking in the Lords on Wednesday, Jack said he was concerned that the emergence of new technologies meant that things could become automatically devolved by not being listed in the Scotland Act.
“If we are to look again at the Scotland Act, I would say to the minister that that requires primary legislation,” he said. “And if we are going to have primary legislation, opening the Scotland Act up again – which I think we should, by the way – could we further look at Schedule 5.
“Schedule 5 in the Scotland Act is everything that was a reserved matter, and anything that wasn't on Schedule 5 back in 1998 was not a reserved matter.
“Since then, many things have come to pass. AI, hydrogen gas, other things. There's a list. I'd be happy to give the noble lady a list.
“I think it's important we look again at Schedule 5 and we review all the things that should be reserved to this parliament.”
Margaret Curran, the former Scottish Labour MSP and minister now serving as a UK Government whip in the Lords, appeared to dismiss the call.
She said: “Not to dismiss or undermine any of the points that have previously been made, but I think in Scotland there's a real appetite to talk less about the constitution and more about the interests of the ordinary Scots, the standards of public services, some of the failures of the SNP Government, and I would be honest with him and say that's my priority going forward.”
The exchange came during a question tabled by Donald Cameron, a former Tory MSP who was given a seat in the House of Lords in order to become a Scotland Office minister in Rishi Sunak’s UK government.
Cameron had asked the Labour administration to look at splitting the role of Scotland’s Lord Advocate, who is both the head of the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service (COPFS) and sits in the Scottish Cabinet alongside SNP ministers and acts as their chief legal adviser.
Curran responded: “This Government acknowledges there is a live debate about the dual role of the Lord Advocate in Scotland.
“The Scottish Labour manifesto in 2024 committed to splitting the role of legal adviser to the Scottish Government and head of the system of criminal prosecutions in Scotland, and that remains our position.
“The UK Government would of course consider any proposal brought forward to the Scottish Parliament.”
Labour peer George Foulkes tried to push the UK Government to take the initiative, saying: “I don't think we should wait for the Scottish Government to ask for the legislation to be changed.
“This is a responsibility of the UK Government and the UK Parliament.”
However, Curran resisted, saying: “I do take very seriously these points and recognise what has been said, and I do commit to having that discussion with the Scottish Secretary and will of course communicate his views and those of the opposition as forcefully as he has put them.”
Last week, the Law Society of Scotland called for the SNP to uphold a 2021 manifesto commitment and open a public consultation on the dual role of the Lord Advocate.
However, the power to alter the role ultimately sits at Westminster.
