A HOLYROOD committee convener has cancelled a visit to Westminster after repeated snubs from Treasury ministers and officials for a meeting.
Kenneth Gibson, SNP MSP and convener of the Finance and Public Administration Committee (FPAC), said that he and his Welsh counterparts' requests for meetings with UK Government officials were repeatedly rejected.
The Holyrood and Senedd members of the Interparliamentary Finance Committee Forum (IFCF) have therefore cancelled a visit to Westminster scheduled for St Andrew’s Day on November 30.
Gibson said the IFCF had approached the Treasury for a meeting with ministers or officials, and MPs on the Treasury Select Committee. Both of which were declined.
It comes after Chancellor Jeremy Hunt refused to appear to give evidence at Holyrood’s finance committee earlier this year. The last four Tory chancellors, including Hunt and Rishi Sunak, have declined invitations from MSPs to discuss financial concerns.
In a statement, Gibson said: “Since March, clerks at both Holyrood and the Welsh Senedd have worked hard to secure meetings with Treasury Ministers, MPs or officials to discuss areas of common interest.
“With few financial levers devolved to Holyrood, Westminster still controls 60% of our funding. Engagement is therefore critical.
“It is therefore deeply disappointing that no such engagement will be forthcoming, even if FPAC travels to Westminster.”
Gibson said it was “frustrating” that no UK Chancellor has ever given evidence to a Holyrood committee.
He added: “FPAC therefore invited Rishi Sunak in June of last year when he was Chancellor. We also invited his successors, Nadeem Zahawi, Kwasi Kwarteng and Jeremy Hunt. None replied, although Mr Hunt did respond to one communication through a subordinate Minister.
“It seems that the Scottish Parliament and Welsh Senedd are simply not on Westminster’s radar.”
The Treasury has been approached for comment.
We previously told how Scottish Secretary Alister Jack has refused numerous invitations to appear in front of a variety of Holyrood committees.
He was asked to give evidence on the use of a Section 35 order at two separate committees, and the UK Government’s block of a deposit return scheme, but declined.
This led to a Tory committee chair to lament that MSPs were being passed from “pillar to post” by UK Government ministers.
Women’s and Equalities minister Kemi Badenoch also refused an invitation to discuss the UK Government’s blocking of Scotland’s gender reforms.
