The man in charge of producing a package of more powers for Scotland has no doubt an agreement will be thrashed out by November because he’s chaired company boards more “disparate” than the country’s politicians.
Lord Smith of Kelvin met Dundee business leaders and creatives behind the city’s “world class” gaming industry as part of a drive to make sure the people of Scotland’s voice is heard in the devolution decision-making process.
Members of the SNP, Labour, Conservatives, Liberal Democrats and Scottish Greens sat round a table together for the first time on Tuesday as the Smith Commission started its work on deciding which extra responsibilities should be transferred to Holyrood.
In an exclusive interview with TheCourier, Lord Smith outlined his plans to keep ordinary folks’ views high up the agenda and revealed a position has already been formed on one key area of negotiation.
He said: “There will be an agreement. I’ve got a long track record in business and in the public sector doing various things.
“I’m as aware as anyone else of positions on tax or welfare or whatever devolved power it is, but we started off with our first full session and there was definitely a mood round there to cooperate.
“We started on constitution, which you might say is the easiest, how shouldHolyrood be run, but I tell you very quickly we got pretty much unanimity round the table about what we are going to do on that.
“There are three pillars to me. That’s one and there are taxation and welfare pillars as well. Now, we know there are differences in these other areas, but if we can continue to talk the way we spoke about constitution, and they weren’t all quite there to begin with but we got there quite quickly, I’mconfident.”
Lord Smith has already held meetings in the Borders, Stirling and Aberdeen inaddition to Thursday’s session in Dundee and will be in Glasgow today and Inverness next week for further gatherings.
He has met representatives from Citizens Advice Bureau, university staff andstudents, third sector workers, oil and gas representatives and will hold discussions with trade unions and voluntary organisations in the coming weeks in a bid to “take the temperature” of the country.
Ten thousand submissions have already been made by members of the public through the www.smith-commission.scot website and Lord Smith expects that todouble by the time an agreement is being drafted.
He said: “I would encourage yourreaders: write in. Everyone who writes in, we will be taking account of what they say and we will tap into any themes which come through.
“The more people who write in, the stronger my position will be because I can say to the politicians: ‘This is what thepeople of Scotland are saying’.”