LABOUR peer George Foulkes is lobbying Prime Minister Andy Burnham and Scottish Secretary Douglas Alexander to intervene following reports that the Scottish Government is set to expand its network of international offices.
The former Scotland Office and international development minister has called for ministers to consider issuing a directive to the Scottish Government, and potentially ringfencing grant funding for devolved services if it continues to spend public money in areas reserved to Westminster.
As it stands, the Scottish Government operates nine international offices in China, Germany, Ireland, London, Canada, France, the US, Belgium, and Denmark.
The Belgian office leads on engagement with the European Union, while the Danish office handles affairs across Sweden, Norway, Finland, and Denmark.
SDI has 30 offices of its own across the globe, including its Glasgow headquarters and some in places where a Scottish Government office also exists.
The Programme for Government states: “To ensure the right coverage and relationships globally, to bolster our domestic and international ambitions, we will bring together Scottish Government and Scottish Development International offices into a more effective Scotland House network, expanding the number of Scotland Houses to more than 40 locations.”
The quoted figure suggests that the Scottish Government intends on opening more international offices, although it is unclear how many. There are currently 39 offices, counting all Government and SDI sites.
In reaction, Foulkes has said: “They never seem to learn and they never seem to pay any attention to criticism or challenging questioning about what they are doing – it’s an unbelievable arrogance.
“It’s outrageous and it is a disgraceful diversion from what they are supposed to be doing while education suffers and there are problems with waiting lists for the NHS and other problems with domestic areas they are responsible for.”
He told the Daily Mail he was disappointed that the Scotland Office and UK Government had not acted sooner, adding: “I would hope that the UK Government will say to them that this is improper expenditure.”
Foulkes said Burnham should take a firmer approach than previous prime ministers.
He said: “Ultimately, the UK Government is responsible constitutionally and financially. They are responsible constitutionally, I think, for the good government for the whole of the United Kingdom and the powers of a devolved government they have by virtue of devolution from the UK Government and the UK Government can say this is not their responsibility and they should stop it.
“Give a directive to the Scottish Government not to carry out work in areas that they are not responsible for.
“And secondly, they can say if you continue to do this then we are going to restrict the finances that you get and use powers to ring-fence the money we are giving to you.”
A source within the UK Government suggested that the Scottish Government should not engage internationally, saying: “Foreign policy is clearly reserved to the UK Government.”
They further told the Daily Mail: “Scotland already benefits from the strength and reach of the UK’s diplomatic network, with 282 missions in around 180 countries to promote our interests, attract investment and champion Scottish businesses around the world.”
