Humza Yousaf’s government has been accused of a “complete betrayal of Scottish children” after failing to urgently re-draw plans to embed UN children’s rights into Scots law – only committing to roll out the delayed legislation by 2026.
The Scottish Parliament unanimously voted in favour of embedding the UN Convention of the Right of the Child (UNCRC) into Scots law more than two years ago in March 2021.
But the UK Government took the Scottish Government to the Supreme Court, with judges ruling in October 2021 that the legislation was outwith the competence of devolution.
The Scottish Government has committed to redraw the plans for Holyrood to reconsider to ensure they meet devolved competence but is yet to table the updated proposals.
The administration has told The Herald the updated plans will be tabled “as soon as practicable”.
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Since the initial stand-off between Westminster and Holyrood over the UNCRC legislation, the two governments have also been at loggerheads over the Scottish Government’s plans to hold a second independence referendum with the Supreme Court also ruling in the UK Government’s favour that Holyrood does not have the power to re-run the 2014 vote.
Read more: SNP trying to 'rewrite devolution' to fix flawed children's rights legislation
The UK Government has also used the Scotland Act to halt Holyrood’s gender recognition reforms from becoming law, prompting a court challenge by Mr Yousaf’s administration.
In Mr Yousaf’s government priorities, set out at Holyrood last week, the First Minister said that the plans to embed the UN CRC into Scots law will be rolled out “by 2026” alongside his other three-year priorities.
Opposition MSPs have now called on Mr Yousaf’s government to ramp up the pace in bringing forward the delayed updated plans.
A UK Government source told The Herald that officials in Westminster are still waiting to see the updated plans.
Scottish Labour spokesperson for children and young people, Martin Whitfield, said: “These shameful delays are a complete betrayal of Scottish children.
“Given a chance to strengthen human rights and protect children in Scotland, the SNP has instead chosen to pick yet another constitutional row.
Read more: SNP minister claims constitutional stand off holding up UNCRC bill
“There is no excuse for dragging their heels any longer – the SNP must bring this bill back to the Scottish Parliament as a matter of urgency.”
Scottish Conservative shadow constitution secretary Donald Cameron: “The SNP deliberately provoked grievance over this bill with the UK Government as a pre-election stunt.
“More than £100,000 worth of taxpayers’ money was spent by them in order to play to the nationalist gallery as they shamefully sought to politicise children’s rights.”
He added: “It is a dereliction of duty that ministers have still failed to bring this legislation back to the Scottish Parliament, where every party supports the principles of this crucial bill.
“The onus is on SNP ministers to finally put children’s rights first, work with the UK Government and make the necessary changes so that MSPs can pass this bill immediately.”
The Scottish Government’s UNCRC strategic implementation board has met almost every month since July 2021.
The latest published minutes, for February’s meeting, show that Juliet Harris from Together Scotland and Gina Wilson, head of strategy at the Children and Young People’s Commissioner Scotland “expressed frustration about the continued lack of clarity about the timescale for reconsideration stage”.
Read more: SNP playing 'roulette' after five options set out to rewrite devolution settlement
In response to the concerns, Michael Chalmers, the Scottish Government’s director for children and families, told the board the government “was very aware of the need to balance pace, the risk of another referral to the Supreme Court”.
A Scottish Government spokesperson said: “It is important to remember that although the UK ratified the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC) in 1991, it has done little to implement these rights into its national legal framework.
“The strongest children’s rights protections in the UK have been through efforts in the devolved nations.
“The First Minister set out last week his ambition to make Scotland the first UK nation to incorporate the UNCRC into domestic law, ensuring we are a country that respects, protects and fulfils children’s rights.
“It is critical to get this Bill right for children now and for generations of children to come. The Scottish Government is committed to bringing the UNCRC Bill to Parliament for reconsideration as soon as practicable.
“Work to achieve this is well underway, including engagement with UK Government lawyers to try to reduce the risk of another referral to the Supreme Court on a revised Bill.”
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