Government signals draft Scotland Bill to be published this week

This is a landmark week for Scotland as the UK government will be publishing draft legislation to give the Scottish parliament the wider devolved powers, including the ability to set some tax and benefits rates, which were promised following the 2014 referendum result

The government has committed to publishing the draft Scotland Bill by Burns Night (25 January), and has now stated the full details will be available ahead of the deadline.

This means there will be confirmation by the end of this week of how the recommendations of the Smith Commission, which was set up in the wake of the ‘No’ vote, will be put into practice.

In an early announcement today, Monday 19 January, Scottish secretary Alistair Carmichael said the legislative power to allow 16 and 17 year olds to vote in future Scottish parliament elections will be transferred from the UK parliament to Holyrood in March.

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