The SNP is today accusing the UK Government of abandoning the Smith Commission \u2013 after it was revealed that the UK Crown Estate will be able to build up a new portfolio in Scotland after the devolution of the existing portfolio to Scotland.<\/p>\n
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During questioning at a session of the Scottish Parliament\u2019s Devolution Committee today, it emerged that following an agreement with the UK Government, the UK Crown Estate would still be able to make new investments and build up a new portfolio of land in Scotland \u2013 the surplus revenue of which would flow to the Treasury rather than to the Scottish Government.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
SNP MSP Linda Fabiani, who is a member of the Committee and represented the SNP on the Smith Commission, made clear that this decision ran contrary to her understanding of what was discussed at the Smith Commission itself.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Land reform expert Andy Wightman has already warned that the UK Government\u2019s proposal for the Crown Estate is a \u201cwholly unnecessary device that has the potential to confuse matters and contradict the core Smith recommendation\u201d which is \u201ca recipe for confusion, conflict and chaos\u201d.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Commenting, Ms Fabiani said:<\/strong><\/p>\n <\/p>\n \u201cThis represents nothing less than an abandonment of the Smith Commission agreement by the UK Government \u2013 no wonder experts are telling us that Westminster\u2019s plans are a \u2018recipe for confusion, conflict and chaos\u2019.<\/em><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n \u201cDespite what was agreed by all the parties in the Smith Commission, the Westminster Government has unilaterally decided that the UK Crown Estate should be able to continue to buy up land and assets in Scotland \u2013 with all the revenue flowing to the Treasury in London rather than benefitting people in Scotland.<\/em><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n \u201cIn effect, the UK Government\u2019s plans would mean there are two Crown Estates operating in Scotland at the same time \u2013 this idea isn\u2019t just bizarre, it\u2019s completely unsustainable.<\/em><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n \u201cThe UK Government simply can\u2019t get away with this ludicrous plan which goes entirely against the spirit of the Smith Commission proposals.\u00a0 They must listen to the experts and ensure that full responsibility for the Crown Estate and its assets are in Scotland\u2019s hands- rather than allowing the UK Crown Estate to continue hoovering up Scotland\u2019s wealth and assets as if nothing had changed.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The SNP is today accusing the UK Government of abandoning the Smith Commission \u2013 after it was revealed that the UK Crown Estate will be able to build up a new portfolio in Scotland after the devolution of the existing portfolio to Scotland. During questioning at a session of the Scottish Parliament\u2019s Devolution Committee today, it emerged that following an agreement with the UK Government, the UK Crown Estate would still be able to make new investments and build up a new portfolio of land in Scotland \u2013 the surplus revenue of which would flow to the Treasury rather than to the Scottish Government.Read More →<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[19,20],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/scotsindependent.scot\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/268"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/scotsindependent.scot\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/scotsindependent.scot\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/scotsindependent.scot\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/scotsindependent.scot\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=268"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/scotsindependent.scot\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/268\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":269,"href":"https:\/\/scotsindependent.scot\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/268\/revisions\/269"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/scotsindependent.scot\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=268"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/scotsindependent.scot\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=268"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/scotsindependent.scot\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=268"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}