SCOTLAND Office minister Malcolm Offord has demanded the Scottish Government “cease and desist from constantly crossing the line from devolved matters into reserved matters.“

Answering questions in the House of Lords, he told peers that the government was looking at the possibility of penalties or fines for ministers going beyond their powers.  

Lord Offord said last month's “decisive, unanimous ruling” in the Supreme Court that Holyrood cannot hold an independence referendum without the consent of Westminster, meant “the constitution is clearly and unequivocally reserved.”

He was responding to a question from Labour peer George Foulkes about the Scottish Government’s Building a New Scotland series. 

The seven documents - three of which have been published so far - will “together form a prospectus for an independent Scotland.” 

According to Tory estimates, around £1.5m of taxpayers' cash has so far been spent on the papers, with 25 civil servants working on the case. 

Lord Offord told peers: “It follows now that His Majesty's Government calls on the Scottish Government to cease and desist from constantly crossing the line from devolved matters into reserved matters. 

“As the Secretary of State for Scotland said last week… most right-minded Scots will agree that using civil services resources to design a prospectus for independence is a wrong thing to be doing at this time.”

Lord Foulkes said he was “very grateful to the minister for his reply.”.  

“I could have written it myself,” he added.

He questioned the legality of the work being carried out on the documents: "Now that the Supreme Court has decided that the Scottish Government has no responsibility whatsoever for calling a referendum, surely the publication of all these publications and production of all these publications that he described, and indeed the employment of so many civil servants, is ultra vires (beyond the powers.)

“Now, since it is the United Kingdom Government that has ultimate responsibility for the propriety of the expenditure of all UK taxpayers' money, when and how are they going to exercise this responsibility?” he asked. 

Lord Offord said: “The Scotland Act assumed that there would be very clear demarcation between reserved matters and devolved matters respected by both sides. 

“Therefore, there are no penalties or fines or surcharges built into the parliamentary architecture for ultra vires activities.”

However, he added that the matter was “now being reviewed at the highest reaches of the UK civil service.” 

“Following the supreme court judgement the United Kingdom Cabinet Secretary is in discussion with the Scottish Government Permanent Secretary on the role of civil service in Scotland. 

“My own observation from 15 months as a Minister of Scotland office is if only we could get the Scottish Government focused on the day job of administrating Scottish affairs in devolved areas, working in cooperation with the UK Government in reserve, there is no doubt in my mind that working together we can turbocharge Scotland.”

A Scottish Government spokesperson said: “In light of majority support within the Scottish Parliament for an independence referendum, Scottish Ministers remain ready to engage with the UK Government at any point on delivering a referendum.

"In line with its Programme for Government commitments, the Scottish Government will continue to publish its Building a New Scotland prospectus series. 

“It is the role of the Civil Service to support the elected government of the day in developing and implementing its policies.

"The 2023-24 Scottish Budget will be published on 15 December 2022, and will set out the Scottish Government’s spending plans for 2023-4.”