On this, at least, there is consensus: devolution has proved a disappointment. How could it be otherwise when the Scottish parliament was granted power without responsibility? A parliament that may spend but cannot raise money is but half a parliament. Politicians like spending even more than they like taxing; removing that latter part of the deal leaves the equation unbalanced. It encourages the attitude that more money is the answer to every public policy problem and, in Scotland, has reinforced an already distressingly statist consensus.
Yesterday’s Scotland Bill, then, is a modest step forward. The proposals, based on the Calman Commission’s recommendations, are needlessly complex and, in places, batty but they may be thought better than nothing and an advance on a failed status quo. Alan Cochrane, as is his wont, despairs that the bill is a needless sop to nationalist sentiment at a time when independence has disappeared from the political agenda.
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