UK GOVERNMENT ABANDONS "RESPECT AGENDA"

With the UK Government finally conceding it will not cut the replacement of EU Structural Funds, the UK Shared Prosperity Fund, I repeated calls for this fund to respect devolution. EU Structural Funds were administered by the Scottish Government, allowing it to be spent on the priorities of Scotland’s people, however the UK Government is keen to cut out the Scottish Parliament’s role in dispersing these funds.

This deliberate plan to undermine Scotland’s Parliament will see the Tory Government in Westminster – which was rejected by Scots - funding pet Tory projects, using new powers set out in the UK Internal Market Act, as opposed to the funds being used by Scotland’s Government to fund priorities identified by Scottish Ministers.

These desperate tactics to undermine Scotland’s democratically elected parliament only show that all pretence of the so-called “respect agenda” has been completely abandoned by this Tory Government.

You can watch the exchange below.