The UK Government would “learn lessons” from the 2014 referendum on Scottish independence if another vote was held, Michael Gove has said, but added he hoped he was retired by that time.
Appearing before the Lords Constitution Committee on Tuesday, the Cabinet Office minister was asked if the UK Government would have contingencies in place if there were to be a vote in favour of independence in the future.
Westminster has long rejected the idea of another referendum, rejecting any request from the Scottish Government for the powers to hold one, with the Prime Minister and his cabinet voicing their opposition to a vote.
READ MORE: Baroness Davidson told to 'hang her head in shame' as she arrives in Lords
Under questioning from Lord Hennessy, Mr Gove said: “For a host of reasons, I don’t think we should be having a referendum anytime soon, but should there be a referendum in the future, I think it is important that we learn lessons from the 2014 referendum.
“The lesson that you’ve pointed out is a fair one.
“I make no criticism of people involved in the Edinburgh Agreement or anything after that – where they were entering uncharted territory – but of course we could learn from that about what might be a better approach in the future.”
When asked if he was making a pledge, Mr Gove sidestepped, saying: “I hope that I’ll be enjoying my retirement by the time the next referendum comes along, but that’s in the hands of others.”
The committee meeting, held to look into the union, also looked at the matter of legislative consent.
Under the devolution settlement, if Westminster is looking to legislate in devolved areas it should ask for consent from the necessary parliament using a legislative consent motion (LCM).
The LCM is non-binding, as was seen following the passage of the Internal Market Act and the UK Government’s Brexit deal, both of which were opposed by devolved administrations.
READ MORE: Secret UK email says Holyrood can hold its own independence referendum
When asked about the use of LCMs, Mr Gove told the committee they must only be used in “exceptional” circumstances.
“I believe that the principle of consent is very important,” he said.
“The UK Parliament should only legislate in the absence of an LCM exceptionally.”
Currently, LCMs are only mandated by convention – meaning they have no legal backing – and Mr Gove said he would be against putting legislative consent “on a statutory basis”, adding: “There are some things that I would rather not see decided in the courts.”
But he did concede that there could be ways to strengthen the process around legislative consent.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereLast Updated:
Report this comment Cancel