UK ministers view devolved governments as ‘subordinate’, claims Robertson

The UK Government views the devolved administrations as “subordinate”, Scotland’s Constitution Secretary has claimed, as he said the relationship between Westminster and Holyrood is still “suboptimal”.

Angus Robertson said Scottish ministers sometimes only learn about UK Government initiatives “either in newspapers the day before they are officially launched, or on the day in a press release”.

He said SNP ministers in Edinburgh are “committed” to trying to build better relationships with their counterparts in London.

But he told MSPs on the Scottish Parliament’s Constitution Committee on Thursday that he had tried – and failed – to set up meetings with Douglas Alexander and Yvette Cooper after they were appointed as Scottish Secretary and Foreign Secretary respectively by Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer in September.

Mr Robertson said Mr Alexander is someone he has known for a long time and “is somebody I get on well with personally”, adding a meeting with him in his new role had been requested on September 10.

He told the committee a response later that month said a meeting could take place on October 13 – with this then switched to two days later.

However Mr Robertson said the UK Government contacted his office again in October to suggest the meeting be postponed until November 11, and this was agreed to.

He then said that on the day before the talks, “the UK Government postponed, initially till later on the 11th and then till ‘the future’”.

The Constitution Secretary added: “We then went on to ask for potential future dates and have received no response to date.”

With Mr Robertson’s role encompassing external affairs, he also requested a meeting with Ms Cooper after she became Foreign Secretary.

Stressing he holds her in “very high personal regard”, Mr Robertson told MSPs “three approaches have been made for an introductory meeting” with her, but “no response has been received”.

He added that after the third attempt, his office received an “unsolicited ask” from the Foreign Office for “an introductory call with me from a junior minister”.

While he accepted “we’re all very busy people, things are cancelled and it is not always easy to reschedule”, he added it shows how “suboptimal a lot of this continues to be after a rhetorical reset”.

Labour promised to boost relationships between Holyrood and Westminster following its 2024 general election win, and Mr Robertson said initially there had been a “significant improvement”.

But he said he now has “no doubt that the attitude in Westminster is that devolved administrations and parliaments are subordinate”.

Politicians at Whitehall only “do as much as is necessary to help intergovernmental relations work” when it is in their own interest, he added.

Speaking on behalf of the Scottish Government, he told MSPs he is “open to workable suggestions about how intergovernmental relations can work better”.

He added: “I want to leave this committee, and this Parliament and indeed UK Government colleagues under no doubt we are committed to trying to make these structures work as well as they possibly can.”

While he said this is “no substitute for being a sovereign state”, he added that Scottish ministers “are open to thinking about new ways of doing things”.

Conservative MSP Jamie Halcro Johnston however said there is a “narrative from the Scottish Government that things aren’t working” when it comes to the UK Government.

“The Scottish Government, let’s be clear, doesn’t want devolution to work because its ultimate aim is independence, we know that,” the MSP said.

Speaking as the committee considered the issue of intergovernmental relations, he added: “I don’t think the punters care about this inquiry, I think they care about hospitals, roads and all the other things that matter.”

A UK Government spokesperson said: “This UK Government has positively reset relationships with the devolved administrations, working in genuine partnership to deliver change in every part of the United Kingdom.

“We have held hundreds of ministerial meetings with our counterparts in Edinburgh, Cardiff and Belfast.”