Robinson says some of Scotland’s powers are about ‘feeling independent’

Northern Ireland’s First Minister Peter Robinson has said some of powers that

have been devolved to Scotland have had more to do with it feeling

independent rather than offering Scots economic, or social gains.

Meanwhile, he said he would reject any attempt to deprive NI of a

secretary of state sitting at the Cabinet in London, even though “there

are very few issues in the day-to-day life” where the current incumbent,

Theresa Villiers is "directly involved".

Robinson’s remarks came during evidence to a House of Lords inquiry into

the relations between Whitehall and the devolved administrations, which

has heard frequent complaints about London’s lack of interest.

Making it clear that NI should not look for extra devolution powers over

the next few years, he said it already had powers that are still not

enjoyed by Scotland, or Wales, particularly over social welfare.

He dismissed the devolution of some powers to Edinburgh, such as

authority over aggregates’ levies, or house stamp-duties, which will, he

claimed, see things done little differently from elsewhere in the UK -

even though Scotland has already made major changes to the latter.

“I can’t see any social or economic change that will result to the

benefit of Scotland by having those powers resting in Scotland unless it

is simply a case of adding up as much power as you can to make yourself

feel as independent as you can,” he said.

It has been suggested frequently that a single secretary of state should

represent Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland at the Cabinet - a

proposal that could easily re-emerge after the May general election.

Disagreeing, Mr Robinson said the devolved governments may frequently

disagree on issues, so he valued Northern Ireland having “a direct

voice” - something which was valuable when Theresa Villiers pushed the

case for devolving corporation tax.

Meanwhile, he expressed little value in the Downing Street meetings

between the prime minister and leaders of the devolved administrations,

saying that he spoke directly to No. 10 on anything that was important.

Former Liberal Democrats Scottish deputy first minister, Lord Jim

Wallace remembered attending three such meetings: the first in Edinburgh

Cardiff was “quite exciting”; the second in Cardiff was less so and Tony

Blair “looked out of the window during the third” in Downing Street.