– in the Scottish Parliament at on 14 June 2018.
Bruce Crawford
Scottish National Party
4. To ask the First Minister whether she will provide an update on the impact of the European Union (Withdrawal) Bill on Scotland. (S5F-02470)
Nicola Sturgeon
Scottish National Party
The most immediate impact is that, this week, the United Kingdom Government, for the first time since the establishment of the Scottish Parliament, decided to press ahead with legislation on devolved matters without the consent of this Parliament. In doing so, it has taken an unprecedented step and overturned the rules of our constitutional arrangements, which have never before been broken in the history of devolution. The fact that the overwhelming vote in this Parliament was casually cast aside in just 15 minutes in the House of Commons without any debate or a single Scottish MP having the opportunity to speak demonstrates beyond all doubt the utter contempt that the Tories have for devolution and the interests of the people of Scotland.
Bruce Crawford
Scottish National Party
Does the First Minister agree that the Tories never wanted devolution in the first place, and that their latest democratic outrage proves that they are prepared to undermine devolution purely to suit Tory party needs, regardless of the consequences for Scotland? Does she also agree that Ruth Davidson’s Tories will pay a heavy price for supporting the naked power grab of devolved responsibilities?
The First Minister:
I think that it has been demonstrated beyond any doubt that the Tories cannot be trusted with devolution. They cannot be trusted now or ever with the Scottish Parliament. The Tories campaigned against devolution 20 years ago. We now know, of course, that Ruth Davidson was furious at the vow that suggested more powers for this Parliament. They did not even want this Parliament to have extended powers.
Of course, the architect of the vow, today, has said that he now supports independence, so disgusted is he at the power grab of the Conservatives.
The fact of the matter is that the Tories are trying to take powers away from this Parliament without the consent of this Parliament. They are doing it in areas that matter—fishing, agriculture, trade, environmental protections, consumer protections and food safety. Those are issues that matter. It is simply not acceptable for the powers of this Parliament to be constrained for up to seven years without our consent. That is what the Tories thought they could get away with this week. Well, it turns out that they cannot get away with it. I think that they are going to pay a very, very heavy political price indeed, and they will thoroughly deserve to.
Ministers make up the Government and almost all are members of the House of Lords or the House of Commons. There are three main types of Minister. Departmental Ministers are in charge of Government Departments. The Government is divided into different Departments which have responsibilities for different areas. For example the Treasury is in charge of Government spending. Departmental Ministers in the Cabinet are generally called 'Secretary of State' but some have special titles such as Chancellor of the Exchequer. Ministers of State and Junior Ministers assist the ministers in charge of the department. They normally have responsibility for a particular area within the department and are sometimes given a title that reflects this - for example Minister of Transport.
The House of Commons is one of the houses of parliament. Here, elected MPs (elected by the "commons", i.e. the people) debate. In modern times, nearly all power resides in this house. In the commons are 650 MPs, as well as a speaker and three deputy speakers.
The political party system in the English-speaking world evolved in the 17th century, during the fight over the ascension of James the Second to the Throne. James was a Catholic and a Stuart. Those who argued for Parliamentary supremacy were called Whigs, after a Scottish word whiggamore, meaning "horse-driver," applied to Protestant rebels. It was meant as an insult.
They were opposed by Tories, from the Irish word toraidhe (literally, "pursuer," but commonly applied to highwaymen and cow thieves). It was used — obviously derisively — to refer to those who supported the Crown.
By the mid 1700s, the words Tory and Whig were commonly used to describe two political groupings. Tories supported the Church of England, the Crown, and the country gentry, while Whigs supported the rights of religious dissent and the rising industrial bourgeoisie. In the 19th century, Whigs became Liberals; Tories became Conservatives.
The Conservatives are a centre-right political party in the UK, founded in the 1830s. They are also known as the Tory party.
With a lower-case ‘c’, ‘conservative’ is an adjective which implies a dislike of change, and a preference for traditional values.
