 | 'The English remain a tolerant, pragmatic and fair-minded people who have refused to respond to the hysterical cries from Tory English nationalists that they should rise up against the rebellious Scots, axe their subsidies, cut their representation and banish Scottish MPs from the Commons whenever matters affecting England are debated.' Iain MacWhirter, in the Scotsman, 24 th July 1997. |  |
In the final part of the series previewing the devolution white paper, Scottish Political Editor Peter MacMahon looks at the role of the Secretary of State for Scotland and Scottish MPs at Westminster after devolution.
DONALD Dewar was, as always, choosing his words carefully. Asked whether there would continue to be a Secretary of State for Scotland after devolution, the present holder of the post created over a century ago replied: "I think there will be a need for some considerable time."
It was a typical Dewar response - a reply which stated the position truthfully but left the door wide open for substantial changes to the structure of Scotland's representation at Westminster after the introduction of devolution.
For Mr Dewar knows as well as anyone that the reality of the proposals he will unveil in the Commons today is that, once a Scottish parliament is sitting in Edinburgh, the Scottish Secretary's post will to all intents and purposes become redundant.
If, as expected, the white paper contains proposals to hand over all or most of the powers currently exercised by the Scottish Office, Mr Dewar or his successor will effectively be out of a job. And before this brings a smirk to the faces of back-bench Labour MPs at Westminster who may look enviously on Mr Dewar's elevated position they would do well to think through the consequences of devolution because it is almost as devastating for them as for the Secretary of State.
The position of secretary for Scotland dates from 1885 when the Scottish Office was established, although the holder of the position did not at the time hold cabinet rank.
From 1892 the secretary for Scotland had a place in the cabinet but it was only in 1926 that the Baldwin government formally upgraded the office to secretary of state for Scotland with the grand claim that the country had been given a "status unknown since the '45".
That was, of course, something of an exaggeration - an early example of political spin - but the claim demonstrates that the demands for greater autonomy in Scotland have always been recognised in Whitehall.
Usually acting after calls from Scots for more control over their own affairs, successive governments have agreed that more and more powers are granted to the Scottish Office and the secretary of state for Scotland.
Although they have vigorously opposed political devolution, this process of administrative or bureaucratic devolution has been carried out by successive Tory secretaries of state.
Mr Dewar, the direct heir to that legacy, has therefore come to a job which gives him control over a budget of £14 billion and sweeping powers over large areas of Scottish public life - from the law to education, from health to economic development. What makes Mr Dewar different is that he will propose today that he surrender these powers to an elected Scottish parliament.
The definitive work on devolution, Scotland's Parliament, Fundamentals for a New Scotland Act, produced by the now defunct Constitution Unit - upon which civil servants have leaned heavily in the drafting of the white paper - faced the problem of the secretary of state's role head on.
It concluded that there would be an important role for the post, first of all during the passing of the devolution legislation and subsequently during the transition period when the new parliament was bedding in.
However, the unit's report concluded: "The role may diminish and - although it will be open to the prime minister to fill - it will be difficult to justify once the parliament becomes established."
There will, however, still be a need for someone to give the Cabinet advice on Scotland and on devolution matters in general so the unit suggested that the prime minister might create a secretary of state for territorial affairs, responsible for devolution in Scotland, Wales and eventually England and Northern Ireland.
Initially this figure could be a Scot, as someone with knowledge of the area to which the greatest amount of devolution has been granted but even that convention, according the unit's report, could eventually disappear.
Nowhere has the timetable for this process been set down but it could well take "some considerable time" to quote Mr Dewar's words if one were to consider a definition of that phrase to mean, say, up to the time of the next election.
It is quite possible then that Mr Dewar will be the last holder of the office of secretary of state for Scotland; but what of the MPs who currently represent Scottish constituencies at Westminster? How will they spend their time after a Scottish parliament has been established?
It may not have dawned on some of them, but they will find that they do not have very much to do.
Back-bench MPs spend a lot of time, quite properly, answering letters from their constituents about problems which they have. Under devolution, most of those problems - in housing, health and education, but with the exception of social security - will be the responsibility of the Scottish parliament.
Constituents would, therefore, have to be politely told by their representatives in Westminster to write to their local member of the Scottish parliament, an admission of impotence that most Westminster MPs will find difficult to make.
There will also be another big change in the life of Westminster MPs from Scotland. There will be no Scottish questions to ministers as there will not be any Scottish ministers, no Scottish select committee, no Scottish legislation committees and no Scottish grand committees to attend. In short, these MPs will have very little to do and if they imagine that they will be welcome to turn up to, say, question time for the Department of Health - which will in effect be question time for the English health department - they ought to think again.
After all, when Scotland has her devolved parliament, which presumably most of them will have voted for, whatever the Commons rules may say about all MPs being equal, it will only be during questions or debates on non-devolved issues - social security, defence, foreign affairs and the economy - that Scots will have a moral authority to speak.
It has often been suggested that devolution is something of a one-way street for the Scots - that they have a lot to gain and nothing to lose.
As some Scottish Labour MPs are beginning to realise, and as Donald Dewar has tacitly accepted, nothing could be further from the truth.
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