The Internal Market Bill isn’t radical enough

The more the SNP decries the Internal Market Bill, the more I warm to it. Initially, I considered it sensible enough but wholly insufficient given the constitutional threat facing the United Kingdom. (Less keen on the law-breaking bit, mind.) But now Mike Russell, SNP constitution minister and professional hysteric, says the Bill will ‘undercut the existing settlement’ by allowing devolved administrations to be ‘overridden by the whim of the UK Secretary of State’ and by permitting ministers to spend ‘in opposition to the Scottish government’ in what he calls ‘an enormous assault on the devolved powers’. Now, that’s more like it.

When Russell talks like this, I go to my happy place and imagine a government actually having the gumption to stare down the devolution industry and the demolition merchants of the Union. Unfortunately, Russell’s shrieks are sheer hyperbole. The Bill standardises regulatory frameworks across the UK and explicitly allows the UK government to spend directly in the nations and regions.