The UK Government has published proposals for sweeping new laws in a White Paper on the “UK internal market” that would undermine environmental and social protections across the UK and fundamentally change the devolution settlement, putting the Scottish Parliament in a straitjacket by giving the UK Government a veto on everything it does.
Currently Scotland is free to take its own path in devolved areas. Free to keep the NHS in public hands, to prohibit fracking, to provide public transport for free… but these proposals would end that. Of course, the UK Government will insist that whilst the would have the power to strike these policies down they won’t. But they expect us to take their word for it whilst voting against laws that would, for example, explicitly protect the NHS from privatisation.
The UK Government plan to impose their will on the devolved nations without their consent. The Scottish Greens are calling on everyone who values Scotland’s ability to run its own affairs to resist. You can help by flooding the Minister responsible with emails asking him to bin this dangerous, anti-environment and undemocratic law.