NICOLA Sturgeon and Alex Salmond will be questioned by MPs at Westminster, it has been announced.
The Scottish Affairs Committee, which is chaired by senior SNP MP Pete Wishart, will quiz both the former SNP first ministers on intergovernmental relations since the reconvening of the Scottish parliament in 1999.
The two living former Labour first ministers, Henry McLeish and Jack McConnell, will also be questioned by MPs investigating the issue.
Salmond will appear on February 19, while the dates for the appearances of the other former Scottish leaders are yet to be confirmed.
All have agreed to give oral evidence in the first half of 2024 as part of an inquiry titled: Intergovernmental Relations: 25 years since the Scotland Act 1998.
A “number of former secretaries of state for Scotland” will also give evidence, the Scottish Affairs Committee said.
So far, the inquiry has received written evidence from former prime ministers Tony Blair and the now Foreign Secretary David Cameron, as well as hearing from former UK Government ministers and senior civil servants to assess whether the intergovernmental processes have delivered on the aspirations of politicians in 1998.
Wishart (below) said: “It’s a clear demonstration of the importance of this work that all living former Scottish first ministers have agreed to appear in front of the committee as part of the inquiry into relations between the UK and Scottish governments since 1998.
"Given that we will hear from all living former first ministers of Scotland, we will be inviting all former UK prime ministers who have been in power since the implementation of the Scotland Act to appear in front of the committee.
“I sincerely hope they will match the commitment of their Scottish Government counterparts and accept our invitation.”
Other MPs on the Scottish Affairs Committee include Scottish Tory leader Douglas Ross and MP David Duguid, LibDems Wendy Chamberlain and Christine Jardine, and Labour MP Andrew Western.
MPs are probing the impact of the Intergovernmental Relations Review (IGR) framework which was introduced in 2022, as well as the longer-term relationship between the UK Government and its devolved counterpart.
At the time of the IGR launch, then deputy first minister John Swinney said: “This rebranding of existing structures will not deliver the step change in attitude and behaviour from the UK Government that is needed if there is to be a genuine improvement in intergovernmental relations – what is urgently needed is a corresponding change in the substance of engagement.”
The Welsh Government also raised concerns that the Tory government would not honour the “spirit” of the reform and continue on with poor engagement with its devolved counterparts.
In 2018, experts at the Edinburgh-based Centre on Constitutional Change warned that governments in London, Edinburgh, Cardiff and Belfast faced serious difficulties in communication.
There were warnings that the devolution system was “creaking at the seams”.
