By James Cook Scotland Correspondent, BBC News Prime Minister David Cameron will meet Scotland's First Minister Nicola Sturgeon in Edinburgh later to discuss the next stage of devolving more powers to the Scottish Parliament.
The visit comes as the UK government publishes draft legislation on powers it intends to transfer to Holyrood.
The bill will not be enacted until after the General Election on 7 May.
The Conservatives, Labour and the Liberal Democrats have all pledged to ensure it becomes law.
The Scottish National Party has said the measures do not go far enough.
Mr Cameron is expected to say the "command paper", which is understood to contain 44 clauses over 100 pages, proves that "the vow" of new powers made by the main pro-union parties before the referendum has been delivered ahead of schedule.
"We said draft legislation would be published by Burns Night and here we are, three days before the celebrations start, with those clauses before us," he is expected to say.
Describing the new powers as "built to last", the prime minister will insist that they will make Holyrood "one of the most powerful devolved parliaments in the world".
The draft legislation is based on the recommendations of the commission set up after the referendum under Lord Smith of Kelvin which proposed that the parliament be given the power to set income tax rates and bands but not to alter the threshold above which tax is paid.
The report also proposed that a proportion of VAT raised in Scotland should be assigned to Holyrood and air passenger duty should be fully devolved.
The Smith Commission recommended the devolution of a range of benefits to support older people, carers and disabled people and said the parliament should be able to create new benefits in devolved areas and make discretionary payments in any area of welfare.
The transfer of powers to allow 16 and 17-year-olds to vote in Scottish parliamentary elections has already been agreed.
Under Lord Smith's plans, Scotland would have the power to issue licences for onshore oil and gas exploration but North Sea taxation remains reserved to Westminster.
It is understood that during her meeting with Mr Cameron, Ms Sturgeon will raise industry calls for oil and gas levies to be lowered to cope with falling oil prices, as well as discussing the new powers.
'More influence'Scotland's Finance Secretary John Swinney, who was one of the SNP's representatives on the cross-party delegations at the Smith Commission, revealed his hopes on BBC Radio's Good Morning Scotland programme,
"What I said when the Smith Commission reported back in November was that the report was welcome because it devolved to the Scottish Parliament greater responsibilities and gave us greater ability to tackled some of the issues that affect the lives of people in Scotland," he said.
"Did it address all the issues I wanted to have addressed? Did it give us all the powers I thought were necessary? No it didn't.
"What I do accept is the Smith Commission generated a set of proposals that would give the Scottish Parliament more power and more influence, and as a consequence of that we have to make sure what the Smith Commission recommended back in November is translated into practical form in the clauses today."
He previously said anything that "backtracks, waters down or falls short of what Lord Smith recommended would be unacceptable", adding that the people of Scotland would judge if the proposals went far enough.
Scottish Secretary Alistair Carmichael insisted the legislation would definitely be passed after the general election.
There would be "no backsliding", said the Liberal Democrat MP.
Labour MSP Iain Gray, who was a member of the Smith Commission, said the move amounted to "home rule" and should be followed by the devolution of powers from Edinburgh to towns and cities around Scotland.
He said the debate should now shift away from the constitution and focus on how the new powers could make Scotland "the fairest nation on earth".
Anda sedang membaca artikel tentang
Bill to set out new Scottish powers
Dengan url
http://sarapanoatmeal.blogspot.com/2015/01/bill-to-set-out-new-scottish-powers.html
Anda boleh menyebar luaskannya atau mengcopy paste-nya
Bill to set out new Scottish powers
namun jangan lupa untuk meletakkan link
Bill to set out new Scottish powers
sebagai sumbernya
0 komentar:
Posting Komentar