Tutorial work for week 8 PDF

Preview

Summary

Tutorial for week 8 - Questions about Scottish Parliament and group exercise tasks 1 and 2....

Description

Tutorial Three: Dev Devolution olution and the Future Go Governance vernance of Scotland

Essential Reading:

A Page, Constitutional Law of Scotland (2015), chs 1, 2, 4 and 7 [book available online via Westlaw] A McHarg ‘Devolution in Scotland’, in J Jowell and C O’Cinneide (eds), The Changing Constitution (9th edn, 2019) [available on module Myplace page] Scotland Act 1998, ss 28 – 36, 101 – 102 and schs 4 – 5 (as amended by the Scotland Act 2012 and Scotland Act 2016)

Additional Reading:

C Turpin & A Tomkins, British Government and the Constitution (7th edn, 2011) pp 210 – 221, 229 – 239, 241 – 244 J McFadden & M Lazarowicz, The Scottish Parliament: An Introduction (4th edn, 2010), chs 2 - 5 S Tierney, ‘Scotland and the Union State’, in A McHarg & T Mullen (eds), Public Law in Scotland (2006) V Bogdanor, The New British Constitution (2009), ch 4 B Hadfield, ‘Devolution: A National Conversation’, in J Jowell & D Oliver (eds), The Changing Constitution (7th edn, 2011) A Page, ‘One Legal System Two Legislatures: Scottish Law-Making After Devolution’, in A McHarg & T Mullen (eds), Public Law in Scotland (2006) P Cairney, ‘How Can the Scottish Parliament be Improved as a Legislature?’ (2013) 1 Scottish Parliamentary Review 1 C McCorkindale, A McHarg and P Scott, ‘The Courts, Constitutional Review, and Devolution in Scotland’ (2017) 36 University of Queensland Law Journal 289

Task 1: Consider the following scenarios: It is 2021, and a number of Bills are being considered for introduction into the Scottish Parliament: A. The Scottish Government is proposing to introduce a planning Bill, which will empower local authorities to designate ‘nuclear free zones’. Argyll and Bute Council has announced that it intends to designate its entire area a nuclear free zone. This will include the Faslane nuclear submarine base. The UK Secretary of State for Defence is extremely concerned about this proposal. B. Eilidh, a left-leaning independent MSP, was elected on a strong pro-trade union message. She intends to introduce a Members Bill that will repeal the restrictions placed on trade union activities contained in the (UK Parliament’s) Trade Union Act 2016, in Scotland.

C. The Scottish Government intends to introduce a Bill to abolish the Council tax and replace it with a Scottish local income tax, which will be set and collected centrally, rather than by individual local authorities. COSLA (the Convention of Scottish Local Authorities) is deeply opposed to this measure. D. A number of high profile cases in which people have received harsh sentences for assisting terminally ill people to commit suicide have caused public outrage. In response to a petition signed by 100,000 people, the Petitions Committee has drafted a Bill which will legalise euthanasia in strictly controlled circumstances. An organisation, Catholic Doctors for Life, has been formed to oppose the Bill, and has said that it will do everything in its power to stop it. The Scottish Government has indicated that it supports a change in the law, and the UK Government is also considering similar legislation. At the tutorial, divide into four groups, A to D. Each group will discuss the corresponding scenario, considering (1) whether the Bill is within the Parliament’s competence, (2) if it is not, how it may be challenged and by whom; and (3) what, if anything, could be done by the Bill’s proponent to cure any potential lack of competence. Report your conclusions to the rest of the class.

Task 2 1. Why was the Scottish Parliament established? 2. What additional powers were devolved to the Scottish Parliament by the Scotland Act 2012 and why? 3. What further reforms have been made to the devolution settlement in Scotland following the independence referendum, and why? Do these go far enough? Too far? 4. What is the constitutional status of the Scottish Parliament? Consider this from the perspective of both the legal and the political constitution. What difference, if any, have sections 1 and 2 of the Scotland Act 2016 made to its constitutional status? 5. Tam Dalyell once described devolution as “a motorway without exits to an independent state.” Do you agree? Would there be any legal or constitutional barriers to the holding of another independence referendum at some point in the future?...