SCOTLAND Secretary Alister Jack claims the Scottish Government has not lost any of its powers following a raft of direct UK Government spending in Scotland announced in last week’s Budget.
Speaking on BBC Scotland’s Sunday Show, he said the UK Government was 100% behind the controversial Cambo oil field development, and defended continued extraction of oil from the North Sea – despite the COP26 climate conference getting under way in Glasgow.
In the Budget, Chancellor Rishi Sunak announced an increase in the block grant to Holyrood, and said £170 million had been awarded directly to Scottish projects this year as part of Boris Johnson’s £4.8 billion levelling-up agenda.
Jack said there had been no change to devolution: “For devolution, it remains the same. There isn't a single power that's been taken away from the Scottish Government.
“In fact, since we left the EU they've been given more powers … the structural funds, the money we gave to the EU, they then spent – we are now in the place of the EU as the UK Government, it’s absolutely right that we spend the structural funds directly.
“I believe it's real devolution, it's enhancing devolution because we're dealing with local authorities, the responsible delivery partners. They are the people who locally know the best projects for them.
“I absolutely stand by that decision.”
Jack went on to say the UK Government was not saying “never” about a future independence referendum.
He said support for an indyref had to be maintained at 60% or above for a year before it would be countenanced.
“I think when you’ve got constitutional change, there's such upheaval, it creates such uncertainty, it’s bad for inward investment, bad for business … we’re not saying never, what we’re saying is ‘we’re not having one now’.
“If you look at the polls, the people of Scotland agree with me on that.”
Jack said the UK was doing “an awful lot” to fight global warming, having been the first major economy to put the 2050 climate requirements into law.
COP26 was in Glasgow, he said, adding: “This is the moment where people have to show their commitment to resolve the planet's threats, which are enormous.”
However, when pressed on the Cambo development, Jack said: “We should open the Cambo oilfield, 100%. We need to keep backing oil and gas. We still need oil for our petrochemicals industry to make instruments for our NHS – that won't stop.
“We’ll stop the combustion engine production by 2035, and that’s as it should be, but it won't change the fact that we will still need oil for a mass of products and we have to be realistic about that.
“It’s foolish to think we can just run away from oil and gas, we can’t.”
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