KEITH Brown has hit out at Westminster’s “disdain for devolution” after David Frost suggested Holyrood’s doesn’t need the “power to raise taxes”.
The Tory peer sparked a furious row after he said the SNP’s “implosion” is a chance to put Scottish devolution into reverse.
In a column in the Telegraph, Frost, who served as the UK’s chief Brexit negotiator under Boris Johnson, argued that no more powers should be devolved to Scotland now that the UK has left the EU.
“It's time to reverse the process,” Frost wrote, before going on to double down on his comments on GB News a week later.
Frost’s initial comments prompted outrage amongst Scottish Tories, with the party’s press office forced to release a statement distancing themselves from the peer’s views.
And now, in an interview with Dan Wootton, Frost said there were “sympathisers” in his own party encouraging him to continue spouting anti-devolution sentiments.
“The bigger problem is that conventional wisdom across all the parties for the last 15-20 years has said the way to defuse independence, to make it go away as an issue, is to give more devolved powers to Scotland,” Frost said.
“We’ve done that time and time again, and what has happened? It's got worse, independence has got stronger, the SNP has got stronger and I think we have ridden that tiger long enough.
“It's come close to dismembering the country.
“It’s time to stop and have a proper debate about, does Scotland need all these powers, does it need these powers to raise taxes, be a semi-independent state on the world stage?”
“I don’t think so. I think it’s reasonable they should have the powers to administer Scotland fairly and reasonably, they don’t need more than that.”
We previously told how First Minister Humza Yousaf vowed to “always defend our democracy” and said that Frost’s comments were indicative of a “wider pattern” of Tory attempts to scupper devolution.
SNP depute leader Keith Brown hit back at the peer’s latest comments, and warned Holyrood’s tax powers could be at risk.
"Westminster's disdain for devolution is ramping up with each day that passes – the Scottish Parliament's limited tax powers are now the next target for the Tories,” Brown told The National.
"From blocking devolved legislation via their Section 35 order to launching an almighty power grab to overrule the democratic will of Scotland’s parliament via the Internal Market Bill – the Tories are ramping things up and we see their true goal is to tighten Westminster control over Scotland.”
Brown said that pro-Brexit Labour should be “ashamed” of their collusion on the attack on Scottish democracy, as they had remained silent on Frost’s suggestions.
"By sitting back and doing nothing to stand up, and working with the Tories to stop people across Scotland having a say over its future, Keir Starmer and the Labour party are as responsible as Rishi Sunak and the Tories,” he said.
"Unfortunately for Lord Frost, whilst Westminster continues to attack devolution until it has silenced Scotland for good, the rising support for SNP and independence that has 'got worse' for them will continue because it is clear that independence is now vital for the future of Scottish democracy."
We previously told how Scottish Tory party chairman Craig Hoy admitted he had not spoken to Frost after he advocated for reversing devolution.
Probed on why he had not when his comments were evidently damaging to the Scottish Tories, Hoy said: “Absolutely, but Lord Frost is the backbench peer, whose view is no more important than any other member of the party or the House of Lords.”
