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A Legislative Consent Motion (also known as a Sewel motion) is a parliamentary motion passed by the Scottish Parliament, in which it agrees that the Parliament of the United Kingdom may pass legislation on a devolved issue extending to Scotland, over which the Scottish Parliament has regular legislative authority.
Background
The Scotland Act 1998 devolved many issues relating to legislation for Scotland to the Scottish Parliament. The UK Parliament maintains Parliamentary sovereignty and may legislate on any issue relating to the United Kingdom, with or without the permission of the devolved assemblies and parliaments.
The motions were named after Lord Sewel, then Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Scotland who announced the policy in the House of Lords during the passage of the Scotland Act 1998. Noting that the Act recognised the Parliamentary sovereignty of the UK Parliament, he said that the UK Government:
- "would expect a convention to be established that Westminster would not normally legislate with regard to devolved matters in Scotland without the consent of the Scottish Parliament."
The Scottish Parliament has no say in how the UK Parliament legislates on reserved matters (those matters that were not devolved by the Scotland Act 1998).
Use and application
There are two uses for a Legislative Consent/Sewel motion:
- It is used when the UK Parliament is considering legislation extending only (or having provisions extending only) to England and Wales, and the Scottish Parliament, being in agreement with those provisions, wishes for the UK Parliament to extend them to Scotland. This saves the need for separate, similar legislation to be passed by the Scottish Parliament.
- It is also used when Westminster is considering legislation applying to Scotland but which relates to both devolved and reserved matters, where it would otherwise be necessary for the Scottish Parliament to legislate to complete the jigsaw.
As well as legislation about devolved matters, the convention extends to cases where UK Bills give functions to Scottish Executive, including in reserved areas, or which seek to change the boundary between reserved and devolved matters.
The intention was for the motions to be used for non-controversial matters, for the purposes of legislative economy and for clarity. It has been used for more controversial matters, where the Scottish Government does not wish to have the Scottish Parliament to consider the issue in detail, to avoid the political consequences, and to keep the legislative bickering to Westminster only.
Guidance on the use of Legislative Consent Motions for Whitehall Departments is set out in Devolution Guidance Note 10.
The Scottish Parliamentary procedure is specified in Chapter 9B of the Parliament's Standing Orders.
Current situation and review
In 2005 the Procedures Committee undertook an inquiry into the use of Sewel motions, and heard evidence from Lord Sewel, Henry McLeish (the former First Minister of Scotland), and Anne McGuire MP (the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Scotland). Following the review, the motions were retitled Legislative Consent Motions and the procedures enshrined in the Parliament's Standing Orders.
As of 15 October 2006, 73 Legislative Consent/Sewel motions had been passed by the Scottish Parliament.
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