Iain Macwhirter completely misrepresents the Scottish Labour Party’s submission to the Calman Commission (‘Caledonian consensus’, Restless nation, March 6–12).
There is nothing in the paper to justify his conclusion that Labour is part of a new consensus in favour of ‘devolution max’.
Indeed, the term ‘devolution max’ is drawn from the Scottish National Party’s paper on fiscal autonomy in Scotland. It is described therein as ‘full fiscal autonomy in the UK’, whereby the Scottish Government would be responsible for raising, collecting and administering all (or the vast majority of) revenues in Scotland and the vast majority of spending in Scotland.
In fact, the commission’s first report has already rejected such a model. The Calman expert group classified full fiscal autonomy as ‘independence’, while Calman concluded that ‘full fiscal autonomy is not consistent with the maintenance of the Union’.
As the commission’s report makes clear, it is looking at mechanisms, such as assigned revenues and additional tax or borrowing powers, to increase parliamentary autonomy and accountability within the devolution settlement.
Labour agrees with this approach, and stated clearly in our submission that ‘full fiscal autonomy is incompatible with the risk sharing and equalisation objectives of
macroeconomic management and access to a common social security system.
We therefore believe that continued sharing of risks, revenues and resources across the UK serves both the interests of Scotland and the rest of the United Kingdom.
I trust this clarifies our position for your readers.
Andy Kerr, shadow Cabinet secretary for finance and sustainable growth, Scottish Parliament
