SIR Kenneth Calman will take his devolution commission to England to find out whether there would be a backlash south of the Border against more powers for the Scottish Parliament, it emerged yesterday.
The Calman Commission was set up by the three main Unionist parties at Holyrood to review the devolution settlement and explore new powers for the Scottish Parliament.
Sir Kenneth, who chairs the commission, said yesterday that he wanted to take
evidence in England because any major changes to the powers of the Scottish Parliament – particularly in control over taxes – would impact on England.
The commission is likely to take at least one evidence session in the north-east of England, but may also travel further south if the demand is there.
Sir Kenneth also revealed yesterday that he was looking into the option of a second chamber – or at least a new committee to scrutinise legislation – for the Scottish Parliament.
If, as seems likely, the Calman Commission recommends that Scotland take control of new tax powers – possibly including corporation tax and stamp duty – this could have a significant impact on the economy of the north of England.
There have also been increasingly vociferous criticisms of Scotland's funding allocation from Westminster from English MPs unhappy that Scots get more per head every year than the English.
Sir Kenneth wants to ascertain whether these sorts of complaints would ease off if Scotland had responsibility for raising money as well as spending it.
The Calman Commission started its public evidence sessions yesterday, holding the first one in Glasgow. Others will follow around Scotland and now, it seems, at least one in England.
Sir Kenneth said: "We have not had a lot of submissions from outside Scotland, but we have had some. These are quite important. So as we take evidence, we will want to take evidence from outside Scotland – somewhere in the north of England, for example, would be an appropriate place to do that. And perhaps further south as well."
He said submissions received so far did not suggest an anti-Scottish "backlash" in England.
But he added: "I think from my own contacts – and I lived in the north of England for nine years, for example – that there are questions there that would be helpful to get some answers, and I think that's what we will do.
"Questions like: how has devolution worked? What impact has there been in England? If you were to change anything like financial accountability, what impact would that have?"
One issue raised by several of the submissions has been the need for more scrutiny of legislation and the possible creation of a second chamber for the Scottish Parliament. Sir Kenneth said: "It is an area we will have to look at. The second chamber is not the only model, there are other models – scrutiny committees, for example."
Sir Kenneth said that one message of the interim report would be that more could be done with the parliament's existing powers.
He said: "I do not think a lot of people in Scotland know what the powers are, how they can be used and how they can be used more effectively. That is likely to be one of our messages – let's look at what we can do in Scotland, what we can do a lot better."
BACKGROUNDTHE Calman Commission which is reviewing the devolution settlement has now been sub-divided into three sections – one looking at finance and tax powers, one looking at the relationship between devolved and reserved issues and the other examining relations with other parliaments, including the European Parliament.
It will publish an interim report at the start of December, which will set out the basic themes the commission is examining and the topics being discussed. It will publish its final report next year.
The commission is running in tandem with the "national conversation on independence", which was established by the SNP government.
Despite reports of poor communication and distrust between the two consultations, Sir Kenneth Calman said yesterday that he found the responses to the SNP's consultation very instructive and informative. He said: "The 'national conversation' I read on a nightly basis and it's a very helpful document and I hope they are finding our discussions equally helpful."
