The Scottish Government will not be “clobbered” by Westminster, a Government minister has said.
Iain Stewart, junior minister for the Scotland Office, told a committee of MPs this morning that there was very good joint working between the two governments, after being asked by SNP MP Pete Wishart if Holyrood should “expect to be cuddled or clobbered” by the UK Government.
Mr Wishart, who chairs the Scottish Affairs Committee, was pressing Mr Stewart on the publication of the long-awaited Dunlop report which looks into the UK Government’s union capabilities, and questioned what Holyrood ministers could expect to see going forward from Westminster.
He referenced the departure of the former head of Downing Street’s now defunct Union Unit, Luke Graham, who left the role earlier this month and said: “We've got the Scottish parliamentary elections coming up in the next few weeks. Are we likely to see the Dunlop review in advance of that so we could start to understand what the intentions of the UK government are about some of the issues and relationships around Scottish Government via the UK Government and what it is thinking about devolution?
“Because Luke Graham…I think we all know Luke pretty well and when he left he was saying stuff like 'No more devolution, no interest in things like federalism'. Should the Scottish Government expect to be cuddled a bit more from the UK government or is it a continuation of the clobbering?”
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Mr Stewart replied: “I would have to say, in my experience, I've been a minister since June last year, my engagement with colleagues in the Scottish Government has not been about clobbering but actually very constructive working.”
He added: “I wouldn't describe the relationship as clobbering, I wouldn't go as far as to say it is cuddling but there's a perfectly amicable and constructive dialogue that goes on in a whole wide range of policy areas”
Mr Wishart also pressed the minister on what the point of No.10’s now-scrapped Union Unit was, but he suffered technical problems and was cut off in the middle of his answer. It happened repeatedly throughout the session to the frustration of some MPs.
Mr Stewart did manage to reply that “these sort of staff changes excite a lot of political commentators but the government's commitment and priority for the union is undiminished and unchanged.”
He added: “The prime minister is the minister of the Union, and it is our office here, the Secretary of State for Scotland, minister Duguid and myself who are the champion of the Union.”
SNP MP Deirdre Brock asked the minister for reassurances that the announcement yesterday on an extension of levelling up funds to include Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, would be shared out fairly and there would be no “pork-barrelling” of the cash.
She referenced an auditor’s report into a similar scheme – the Towns Fund – which was found to have given out £3.6bn of funding to certain towns, without explanation for the allocations to some towns over others.
She said: “The National Audit Office Report which pointed out the shortcomings of that fund…it highlighted what many saw as pork-barrelling by UK Government ministers so can I ask what is there to prevent that happening here?
“What has the government learned from that episode, and how will the Scotland Office be ensuring that that money is paid out in a really fair and very transparent manner?
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The minister replied: “I don't firstly accept the premise of the question that the towns fund is somehow politically biased.
“But there will be the proper accountability mechanisms for this, as indeed all government spending.
“There will be perfectly normal and adequate accountability and scrutiny of this.”
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