John Swinney claimed in his SNP conference speech a few days ago that the UK Government is unpicking the devolution settlement, rolling devolution back, and removing powers from the Scottish Parliament. None of these claims is true.

Mr Swinney’s attack is an old refrain, from a tired politician who has long since grown frustrated that his lines no longer land. The poor man deserves a rest, but on he battles, marching his nationalist troops halfway up the hill, only to abandon them there as yet another delay kicks in to postpone once more the mythical charge towards an illegal second independence referendum.

The theme of the SNP conference was that Scottish independence should be contrasted with dependency on Westminster—as if these are the alternative options Scotland must choose between. Now, the nationalists used to be clever at framing questions to get the answers they want, but this is hopeless stuff.

For Scotland is not remotely dependent on London. Scotland has one of the world’s most powerful devolved parliaments — more powerful than the German Länder, more powerful than the American states, more powerful than the Australian states — and the lived reality of devolution is not dependence but inter-dependence.

And this is why the SNP hates it so much because this inter-dependence is precisely what large majorities of Scots repeatedly tell focus groups and opinion pollsters they want. Scots don’t want their two governments to stand on the constitutional sidelines, bickering to each other. They want their two governments to work together, to co-operate, to solve problems that Scots know cannot be solved by adding more borders to the world’s map.

This is not the story of devolution which the SNP likes to tell — much more convenient to them to pretend that devolution is all about power grabs and those evil Tories taking back control of things which are properly Holyrood’s — but it is nevertheless the truth. Devolution works (and is popular) precisely because it requires our two governments to work together, not to pull apart.

Little of this happens in public. But since Cicero’s day two thousand years ago it has been true that the important stuff of government happens behind the scenes and what the public sees is largely for show. If you lift the veil on devolution, though, and peer into its inner workings what you find are two things that the SNP would never in a million years want to broadcast.

First, you would find Holyrood repeatedly inviting Westminster to legislate for Scotland so that Holyrood does not have to go to all that trouble itself. Moreover, you would find Holyrood repeatedly inviting Westminster to legislate on devolved matters because it is more convenient, or more expedient. Thus, in the last few weeks alone, SNP ministers have formally advised the Scottish Parliament that, in their view, Westminster and not Holyrood should legislate for Scotland as regards the Judicial Review and Courts Bill, the Social Security (Up-rating) Benefits Bill, and the Advanced Research and Invention Agency Bill.

That’s right: nationalist ministers formally recommending to a nationalist-dominated Parliament that the House of Commons, with its 80-strong Tory majority is better placed to make laws for Scotland than the Scottish Parliament is. That’s not a Tory party intent on driving devolution into the dust. That’s the ordinary, everyday, lived reality of how devolution works in practice.

Second, what you would also find is a Westminster machine that deliberately operates to give effect to the laws that Holyrood passes. Known as section 104 orders, these operate so far below the radar that most law-makers have never heard of them, never mind voters. A section 104 order is a piece of law made in Westminster to make technical amendments to Westminster legislation in order to facilitate the policy aims of the Scottish Parliament. A current example concerns the Age of Criminal Responsibility (Scotland) Act 2019, in which Holyrood made important changes to Scots criminal law.

Instead of blocking or rolling back what the Scottish Parliament is seeking to achieve in its legislation, the Tory government in Westminster is quietly making laws to give effect to Scottish legislative choices. This is not exceptional. It’s routine—so routine that something like 250 such section 104 orders and the like have now been made since the dawn of devolution.

On the surface, devolution looks like it’s all about dividing power: some matters (such as health or education) are for this parliament over here, whereas others (such as defence or international relations) are for that parliament over there. But look deeper — deeper certainly than Mr Swinney wants you to — and you’ll see that in reality devolution isn’t about dividing power at all. It’s about sharing power.

Power in Scotland is shared between two governments, and two parliaments, who, despite all their surface-level disagreements, work together to ensure that each respects and gives effect to the policy choices of the other. That’s why SNP ministers often find themselves recommending to Holyrood that Westminster should legislate for Scotland. And it’s why Tory ministers in London make section 104 order after section 104 order to give effect to Holyrood’s legislative priorities.

It is this culture and practice of shared power — of inter-dependence — that the proponents of Scottish independence want to shatter. Nationalist spin that, as matters stand, Scotland is somehow unhealthily dependent on London, or that London politicians are working to undermine devolution is just that — spin.

Scots may not know anything much about the darker recesses of section 104 orders, but they are more than enlightened enough to see through John Swinney’s bluster. They like devolution — and it’s here to stay — precisely because they want their two governments to carry on doing what they are doing: working together.

That’s what devolution requires — that’s what devolution delivers — and that, overwhelmingly, is what Scots want.

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