Queen's speech shows co-operation between governments despite public rowing
The Journal
Despite tensions in recent months between Westminster and Holyrood, the Scottish Executive has announced that certain devolved areas will be dealt with by Westminster.
The Sewel Convention, as the process is called, allows for Westminster to legislate in areas of devolution at the permission of the Scottish government.
This decision contrasts with the growing public hostility Alex Salmond has shown towards the Labour Government.
In Mr Salmond’s speech to the SNP conference he voiced his belief that the Westminster administration was intent on making life difficult for the Scottish Executive, asserting: "I don’t think they are sitting around the cabinet table and cheering us on."
The prompt verdict on the Queen's speech and decision as to which areas are Sewel, has lead Brian Taylor, the BBC’s political commentator, to surmise that "detailed information re. the Westminster plans has been shared behind the scenes with officials in Scotland."
This contrasts markedly to an October report in The Scotsman.
It stated senior Labour officials had warned Whitehall departments not to share information with the Scottish government that might be used to the SNP 's advantage.
The Liberal Democrats have criticised what they see as back tracking by the SNP on the Sewel Convention. The Lib Dems highlighted the criticism the SNP levied at the Liberal Democrat and Labour Coalition Executive when they agreed to Sewel areas of the devolution settlement back in 2004.
Under the proposals, Westminster will include Scotland in improvements to health care professions. In addition, in order to tackle climate change more effectively, the Scottish Executive will also allow Westminster to provide a statutory UK framework for action to tackle global warming.
Even with such co-operation, there are still significant elements of Mr Brown’s 29 Bill programme, outlined in the Queen’s speech, that will not affect Scotland. Gordon Brown’s proposals to raise the age of compulsory education or training to 18 are not supported by the SNP and will not be adopted in Scotland. The Education Institute of Scotland has backed such a decision but it does signal further divergence between education policies in Scotland and the rest of the UK.
Fall outs between the administrations began back in the summer when Tony Blair indicated he was happy for the Lockerbie bomber, Abdelbaset Ali Mohamed al-Megrahi, to serve out his prison term in Libya.
More recently Alex Salmond has launched an attack on Alistair Darling, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, after the increase in Scotland’s budget was significantly lower than previous years.
The First Minister accused Mr Darling of "short changing and squeezing Scotland" and that such incidences presented an even stronger argument for independence, rhetoric which Mr Darling described as "bluster".
The arrangements for Gordon Brown’s legislative agenda has caused some to view the developments as indication that the two governments are embracing a more pragmatic approach of co-operation.
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