Seòmar agus comataidhean

The witnesses have mentioned that consensus exists on some issues and that there is a variety of views on others. Can you identify the obstacles that are in the way of reaching a conclusion and on which there is consensus? That question is for anyone who wants to answer it.

One of you mentioned the opportunity to do things anew, but there is also tension, is there not? You mentioned the challenges of trying to second guess the budget that the UK Government will commit to in the longer term. Are there other things about the wider UK context that present challenges? There is the United Kingdom Internal Market Act 2020—which the committee has been looking at—the Subsidy Control Act 2022 and various other things. How do you fit what you are doing into the wider picture?

I ask the question only because you mentioned that progress is perhaps slower than you would want it to be. What are the stumbling blocks and the challenges?

Mr Wragg, I do not want to put words in your mouth, but I think that you said that recent things that have happened with the Sewel convention have been in response to the unusual political times that we are living through. I do not disagree that we are living through unusual political times. However, do you have any reaction to, or comment on, the fact that, in this Parliament, one of our concerns is that the changes in respect of the Sewel convention are but some of the changes that are happening around us in what many of us see as being a radically different UK Government view of the powers of the Scottish Parliament?

This is all happening in the context of the United Kingdom Internal Market Act 2020 and the REUL bill, with implications for devolved law on an industrial scale. The context is also that, for the first time since the days of Queen Anne, I think, UK ministers have intercepted a bill before it got to the royal desk. Do you see that as part of a slightly bigger context than concerns about the Sewel convention.

Last week, as I am sure you heard, Tommy Smith, the distinguished jazz musician, pointed out that a number of European countries, some of which are similarly sized to Scotland, have a radio channel that plays jazz, one that plays traditional music and one that plays classical music. Those are public service broadcasters. Why are we in Scotland still arguing about a couple of hours here and there?

I will go first to Mr Irranca-Davies. The committee has been looking at the impact of the changing understanding of the Sewel convention, if I can put it as diplomatically as that, on our situation in Scotland. It is something on which the Welsh Government has commented. Will you say something about how the situation in Wales has developed, from the Senedd’s point of view, particularly in the light of, I understand, the seven instances in which the UK has legislated without the Senedd’s consent?

I will return on that point, if I may. Again, comparing notes, I note that some of the debate in this committee has been about what the Sewel convention means and what “not normally” means. Is the Sewel convention still viewed in the Senedd as being in the realm of real things?

I will roll my other two questions into one. You will have to translate “leaning into bigger brands” for me as I do not know what that means. Who are the bigger brands in piping? Does “leaning into bigger brands” mean leaning out of diversity?

My second question is on the back of last week’s evidence. Finlay MacDonald, from a piping point of view, and Tommy Smith, from a jazz point of view, asked whether the new model that you are describing for BBC Radio Scotland involves more of a DJ model for programmes. In other words, does it involve fewer live performances and less engagement with experts?

I will continue with that theme. I declare an interest of a kind: like Jenni Minto, I represent an island constituency.

I am not clear what you are recommending to crofters. On the one hand, you are saying that, rather than having livestock, they might be better off having trees. On the other hand, you say—quite rightly—that you would not want trees to be planted on peatland. In places such as the west of Scotland, peatland is pretty much all that there is. What do you recommend that crofters should do instead of having livestock?

I am sorry to interrupt, but I think that you misunderstood my question—perhaps I did not put it very well. My point is that the animals cannot be just grass fed. In terms of livestock, you cannot have agriculture, as anyone would understand it, without bringing in feed to island and west coast areas. It cannot be done—there would be no livestock.