FISCAL FRAMEWORK: JOHNSTONE WELCOMES DEAL
Responding to the announcement from the First Minister that a deal has been struck between the Scottish and UK Governments on the Fiscal Framework relating to the proposed Scotland Bill powers, Scottish Green MSP Alison Johnstone, a member of Holyrood’s Devolution Committee, said:
“It’s welcome that we have an agreement that can be scrutinised by Holyrood before dissolution of parliament on 23 March. We will need to look carefully at the details. The no-detriment principle was always going to be difficult given the complexity of devolution, but it’s right that Scottish Ministers insisted on a deal to protect Scotland’s funding.
“We must have clarity about the transitional deal that has been struck and in years to come, assuming the deal is implemented, we must have a much more inclusive process that invites the views of Scottish society rather than keeping everything behind closed doors.”