By Richard Johnstone | 14 October 2014
The UK government will keep its vow to deliver significant new powers to Holyrood, Scottish Secretary Alistair Carmichael has pledged.
Speaking as the UK government published a command paper summarising the position of the three main UK political parties on additional devolution, Carmichael said last month’s independence referendum showed a majority of Scots want a strong parliament as part of the UK.
The Westminster coalition government has established a commission, led by Lord Smith of Kelvin, to devise plans to deliver on the cross-party commitment for more powers for the Scottish Parliament.
The command paper sets out the position of the Conservative, Labour and Liberal Democrat parties for additional powers.
These include the Conservative proposal that the Scottish Parliament should be responsible for setting the rates and bands of personal income tax in Scotland.
Labour said powers to allow the Scottish Parliament to levy a Scottish rate of income tax from 2016, based initially on responsibility for half of the 20p basic rate, should be extended to 15p, while the LibDems said income tax paid by Scottish taxpayers ‘should be almost entirely the responsibility of the Scottish Parliament’.
The proposals will now be examined by the Smith Commission, which is convening talks – also including the pro-independence Scottish National Party and Scottish Greens – in a bid to reach agreement on the powers.
The paper’s publication comes after last week’s Scottish Government budget used devolved powers – passed in 2012 – to set Scottish stamp duty and landfill tax rates.
Speaking before giving a statement in the House of Commons today, Carmichael said: ‘We pledged further devolution and we will deliver on that promise. Today’s command paper sets out the detail of the political positions from the parties.
‘This is the first time all of Scotland’s main political parties will be involved in a process exploring areas of further devolution. I welcome that as an important recognition we must work together to deliver the new powers people want to see for Scotland.’
