Give Scotland power to do trade deals says Citizens’ Assembly

Holy rood should have the power to negotiate trade agreements, controlim migration, reduce the pension age and end zero hours contracts, according to the first report of the Citizens’ Assembly.

The radical suggestions, which would need to see many powers reserved to Westminster transferred to the Scottish Parliament, are par t of a catalogue of 60 recommendations from the Assembly.

The report also includes recommending th el iving wage be made a legal requirement, for more tax powers to bed evolved and to be“used innovatively” to end poverty, a cap on rents, more mental health support for young people, action on the climate crisis, a pay rise for NHS staff, devolution of foreign affairs, and free education for life.

The assembly, which consisted of a group of 100 S cots broadly representing the people of Scotland in terms of demography, geography and political views, was independent of government, and its report will be laid in parliament for debate. The citizens involved were asked to consider what kind of Scotland they would like to see and how best to tackle key challenges, deliberating on from key experts.

The rem it allowed the assembly to decide which specific challenges to consider and asked that“in doing so that the constitutional arrangements for dealing with those challenges and options for constitutional reform be examined”.

Launching the repor t, conve n e a t e Wi mp r e s a i d : “O u r m e m b e r s m a d e u p a 'mini-s cotland' and worked h a r d t o g e t h e r o v e r m a n y m o n t h s t o f i n d c o m m o n ground.

“We recognise that there are some UK government interests in many of the areas but it’s for the S cottish Government and the Parliament to take things for ward from here.

“We took evidence from many experts, including where power a n d t h e y w e r e l o o k i n g a t d i f f e r e n t c o n s t i t u t i o n a l s c e n a r i o s . T h e c o n s t i t u t i o n a l f r a m e--work is the one within which t h i t i z e n s A s s e mb l y wa s operating but it was up to the Assembly memb ers to pro--pose areas of interest against that backdrop.”