The New Scottish Statute Book: The Scottish Parliament's Legislative Record Since 1999

Abstract

First paragraph: A distinctive feature of Scottish devolution compared with other countries is that Scotland has always had its own statute book, with distinct Scottish legislation over a range of policy fields. Some of this consisted of separate Scottish bills, but a lot of it took the form of Scottish clauses tacked onto UK bills, making the statute book somewhat untidy and not easy to follow. Most Scottish MPs tended to specialize in Scottish legislation, which was dealt with largely by the Scottish Grand Committee and Scottish Standing Committees, isolating it from the Westminster mainstream. While they jealously guarded their prerogatives in these matters, the policy content of legislation was not greatly different from that pursued in England and Wales, given government dominance of the process and the fact that the essential Second Reading and Report votes were taken in the whole House. Standing Committees were also nominated to ensure a government majority, with English MPs being drafted in during the later years of the Conservative Government in order to make up the numbers.