Stronger as a partner

SIR, – I refer to the letter (the Press and Journal, November 16) from S. Graham headed “Stronger as a ‘partner’?” in which it was stated that only the Scottish Government had stepped forward to mitigate the effects of the oil price slump, and that the passing of the Scotland Bill by the House of Commons means that we are in a dictatorship.

For oil, yes, the Scottish Government has set up a taskforce, and publishes a bulletin. But as effective responses to the catastrophic collapse in the oil price, these initiatives are tiny compared to the tax changes favourable to the oil industry in the 2015 UK Budget.

All the Scotland Bill does is implement the Smith Commission report, which was agreed to and signed off by the SNP members of the commission. It makes the Scottish Parliament the most powerful body of its kind in the world, much more so than, for example, state legislatures in the federal United States.

Lord Smith has said that the

If the Scottish Government doesn't approve of the Scotland Bill, it has the power to reject it and kill it stone dead at Holyrood

bill implements the commission’s proposals in full.

As for a dictatorship: if the Scottish Government doesn't approve of the Scotland Bill, it has the power to reject it and kill it stone dead at Holyrood. Let’s see what happens.