Claim of Right for Scotland on Tuesday 6 September 2016 at Material 4 2.30Pm
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DEBATE PACK Number 2016-0158, 2 September 2016 Claim of Right for By Sarah Priddy Scotland Contents 1. Background to the Summary 1989 Claim of Right 2 Debate Pack prepared ahead of the Westminster Hall debate initiated by Patrick 2. Parliamentary Grady on the Claim of Right for Scotland on Tuesday 6 September 2016 at material 4 2.30pm. 3. Press Articles 6 Subject Specialist: Paul Bowers 4. Further reading and useful links 9 Appendix - Signatories to the 1989 Claim of Right The House of Commons Library prepares a briefing in hard copy and/or online for most non-legislative debates in the Chamber and Westminster Hall other than half-hour debates. Debate Packs are produced quickly after the announcement of parliamentary business. They are intended to provide a summary or overview of the issue being debated and identify relevant briefings and useful documents, including press and parliamentary material. More detailed briefing can be prepared for Members on request to the Library. www.parliament.uk/commons-library | intranet.parliament.uk/commons-library | [email protected] | @commonslibrary 2 Number 2016-0158, 2 September 2016 1. Background to the 1989 Claim of Right The following is taken from the Commons Library briefing on Citizens’ Assemblies and Constitutional Conventions. CBP 07143, 18 July 2016 1.1 Scottish Constitutional Convention 1989 The establishment of a constitutional convention had been a recommendation of the 1988 report, A Claim of Right for Scotland. The report recommended that a convention should be established to draw up a scheme for a Scottish Assembly or Parliament. In January 1989, a cross-party meeting was held to consider proposals for a convention. The constitutional convention for Scotland, which was grass roots led rather than established by Government, held its first meeting on 30 March 1989, with Canon Kenyon Wright as the Executive Chairman, and reaffirmed the Claim of Right. The Claim of Right stated that the will of the Scottish people was sovereign. Members of the Scottish Constitutional Convention included the Scottish Labour Party, the Scottish Liberal Democrats, the Scottish Democratic Left, the Orkney and Shetland Movement, the Scottish Green Party, the Scottish Trades Union Congress, Regional, District and Island Councils, and the Campaign for a Scottish Parliament. Membership also included the main Scottish Churches, the Federation of Small Businesses, ethnic minority representatives and the Scottish Women's Forum. At the initial cross party meeting on establishing a convention, the Scottish National Party had expressed their concern that the convention would not consider the issue of Scottish independence, and later withdrew. The Conservative Party had already made it clear that they would take no part in the proposed convention, as they were not in favour of a devolved Parliament for Scotland. As the Political and Constitutional Reform Committee noted in its report, Do we need a constitutional convention for the UK?, the Scottish Constitutional Convention’s report in 1995 formed the basis of proposals which were brought forward in a White Paper, Scotland’s Parliament, by the Government in 1997. Those proposals received considerable support in a referendum on 11 September 1997, with 74% of those voting favouring the Government's proposals for a Scottish Parliament. The Committee stated that: 23. The Scottish Constitutional Convention was highly successful in achieving its aim. The Convention had a clearly defined remit of making the case for an Assembly or Parliament for Scotland. Claim of Right for Scotland 3 Nonetheless, the example of the Scottish Constitutional Convention shows that there is a need for clarity about the questions that the convention would seek to answer. Although the Scottish Constitutional Convention did not initially have support from all the political parties, support for its proposals grew over the course of the Convention’s six years of deliberations. 1.2 Text of the1989 Claim of Right We, gathered as the Scottish Constitutional Convention, do hereby A copy of the 1989 acknowledge the sovereign right of the Scottish people to determine Claim of Right and the form of Government best suited to their needs, and do hereby signatories is added declare and pledge that in all our actions and deliberations their as an appendix at the interests shall be paramount. back of this document. We further declare and pledge that our actions and deliberations shall be directed to the following ends: To agree a scheme for an Assembly or Parliament for Scotland; To mobilise Scottish opinion and ensure the approval of the Scottish people for that scheme; and To assert the right of the Scottish people to secure implementation of that scheme. 4 Number 2016-0158, 2 September 2016 2. Parliamentary material 2.1 UK Parliament - Debates Westminster Hall debate on EU Exit: Devolved Governments HC Deb 21 July 2016 On the motion: That this House has considered devolved governments and negotiations on the UK leaving the EU. Westminster Hall debate on the renegotiation of EU Membership (Devolved Administrations) HC Deb 10 Nov 2015 cc 66-84 On the motion: That this House has considered the role of devolved administrations in UK renegotiation of EU membership 2.2 UK Parliament – Select Committee Political and Constitutional Reform Committee Do we need a constitutional convention for the UK? HC 371 2012-13 The Political and Constitutional Reform Committee conducted an inquiry into whether there is a need for a constitutional convention for the UK. The inquiry looked at how a convention might allow a debate on the future of the Union as a whole, rather than piecemeal through a focus on specific issues or nations. Written evidence submitted by Professor James Mitchell (CC 21) Professor James Mitchell is Head of the School of Government and Public Policy, University of Strathclyde. [Extract] 11. The Scottish Constitutional Convention (SCC) is often referred to in debates in the UK. The SCC was founded on a ‘Claim of Right’ which proved less certain than its founders hoped. [6] While participants signed up to the Claim, it was a political rather than justiciable claim to ‘sovereignty of the Scottish people’. The SCC was an important non-authoritative body for cross- and non-party deliberation on aspects of devolution. There was a conscious effort to ensure that in form and in substantive conclusions it would be an open, participatory form of decision-making. The Convention highlights both the strengths and limitations of open, participatory constitutionalism. 2.3 Scottish Parliament – written question Question on the Claim of Rights Act 1689 2 October 2014 (S4W-22401) Jean Urquhart (Highlands and Islands) (Independent): To ask the Scottish Government whether the provisions of the Claim of Rights Act 1689 in relation to the right to appeal to the monarch against perceived Claim of Right for Scotland 5 judicial injustice remain in force and, if not, what information it has on when these were revoked and for what reason. Kenny MacAskill: The provisions of the Claim of Right Act 1689 in relation to the right to appeal to the monarch against perceived judicial injustice remain in force to the extent that the right is now exercisable via appeal to the United Kingdom Supreme Court, in accordance with the usual rules of court, and civil procedure. The Claim of Right Act 1689 provided a right for a person to appeal a decision of the Court of Session to the Parliament of Scotland (the ‘monarch in Parliament’) and not necessarily directly to the sovereign as an individual. Following the Acts of Union and the abolition of the Scottish Parliament, this right was effectively transferred to the House of Lords, meaning that decisions of the Court of Session could be appealed to the House of Lords. In 2009 the appellate jurisdiction of the House of Lords was transferred to the new United Kingdom Supreme Court, including appeals from the Court of Session. The right contained in the 1689 Act has evolved into the right of appeal to the Supreme Court and is not a parallel right of appeal alongside the normal rules of civil procedure. The Scottish Government’s understanding is that the 1689 Act concerned proceedings of the Court of Session and does not entitle an individual to challenge a conviction or sentence of a Scottish criminal court by petitioning the sovereign or the government on Her Majesty’s behalf. The House of Lords never assumed appellate jurisdiction for criminal cases following the Union. The mechanism for challenging a conviction or sentence of a criminal court is by appeal in accordance with the normal rules of criminal procedure. An individual who remains dissatisfied with the outcome of that appeal can ask the Scottish Criminal Cases Review Commission to consider investigating whether a miscarriage of justice has occurred, which can in certain circumstances result in the case being referred back to the appeal court. 2.4 Scottish Parliament - Debate Debate on the Claim of Right 26 January 2012, c5805 Nicola Sturgeon: Presiding officer, the motion for this afternoon’s debate is deliberately simple. It states that “This Parliament acknowledges the sovereign right of the Scottish people to determine the form of Government best suited to their needs, and declares and pledges that in all its actions and deliberations their interests shall be paramount.” 6 Number 2016-0158, 2 September 2016 3. Press Articles Nicola Sturgeon launches new debate on Scottish independence New Statesman 2 September 2016 Replace House of Lords with elected senate, urges Gordon Brown Ex-PM says Brexit vote means UK should rethink constitutional structures to weaken case for Scottish independence The Guardian, Severin Carrell 29 August 2016 In a speech at the Edinburgh book festival, written in collaboration with Scottish Labour leaders and policy staff, Brown said Holyrood should be given powers currently controlled by the EU.