Members' Business — S6M-14113 Kenneth Gibson: Repealing the United Kingdom Internal Market Act 2020

That the Parliament recognises the ongoing and potentially far-reaching implications of the United Kingdom Internal Market Act 2020 (UKIMA) as, it considers, a repeated and systematic undermining of devolution and the Scottish Parliament; considers that, despite the previous UK administration’s stated commitment to work through intergovernmental structures during the Brexit process, the UKIMA is one of four instances where UK Conservative ministers chose to disregard the Sewel Convention, following the European Union (Withdrawal) Act 2018, the European Union (Withdrawal Agreement) Act 2020, and the European Union (Future Relationship) Act 2020; understands that the introduction of the mutual recognition and non-discrimination principles obligate Scotland to accept goods and services from other parts of the UK, even if they do not meet Scotland's higher regulatory standards, or correspond with key local policies such as minimum alcohol unit pricing, which has an exemption in the Act but, it considers, can still technically be caught by the UKIMA’s non-discrimination principle, or the prohibition of certain single-use plastics, as well as other devolved areas if deemed to undermine barriers to trade under the UKIMA; considers that UK ministers can now impose market access principles on devolved policy areas without input from the devolved legislature, most concerningly in areas such as healthcare, where the UK Government can subject “healthcare services provided in hospitals” and “other healthcare facilities or at other places” to market principles in Scotland; highlights its concern following the current UK Secretary of State for Health and Social Care’s reported proclamation to “[hold] the door wide open” to private interests in the NHS; considers that UK ministers can now make spending decisions on devolved matters and have already used these powers to replace programmes previously administered via European Structural Funds; understands that the Labour Party, Liberal Democrats, Scottish National Party and Green Party rejected the UKIMA in the House of Commons and that it received the largest government defeat in the House of Lords since 1999; further understands that the UK Government did not seek legislative consent from the devolved legislatures; recalls that the Scottish Parliament voted on a motion for debate refusing consent, which was supported by the Scottish Labour Party, Scottish Liberal Democrats, Scottish Green Party and Scottish National Party, which it understands was only the second instance since the Parliament's establishment in which consent has been withheld, following the European Union (Withdrawal Agreement) Act 2020; understands that, during the passage of the United Kingdom Internal Market Bill, a range of stakeholders, including business and farming organisations, environmental groups, public health charities and professional organisations, raised concerns, which it considers were downplayed or not acknowledged by the UK Government, and notes the calls on the UK Labour administration to repeal the UKIMA, restore respect for the devolution settlement, and ensure that the rights and interests of the people in the Cunninghame North constituency and elsewhere in Scotland are upheld.