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Scotland Bill

Perhaps I can clarify for my noble friend that Section 31 of the Scotland Act 1998 is relevant in this regard. It states: "““A member of the Scottish Executive in charge of a Bill shall, on or before introduction of the Bill in the Parliament, state that in his view the provisions of the Bill would be within the legislative competence of the Parliament””." Subsection (2) says: "““The Presiding Officer shall, on or before the introduction of a Bill in the Parliament, decide whether or not in his view””—" or in the case now, in her view— "““the provisions of the Bill would be within the legislative competence of the Parliament and state his decision””," so the Presiding Officer has to state their decision as to whether it is within competence. Let us take this away from the question of the referendum Bill, because our ambition here is not to get into that position; it is to reach an agreement, preferably on a Section 30 order. However, in general, the Presiding Officer has to decide whether the provisions of the Bill would, in their view, be within the legislative competence of the Parliament, and has to make that decision public. It is still the case that the Parliament could proceed to debate and process the Bill notwithstanding that, but there are obviously political ramifications. I could imagine some pretty lively debates if that was to be the case.