Bromptonaut
Rohan Man
- Location
- Bugbrooke, Northants
Not really. Scotland cannot enact legislation which is contrary to that enacted by Westminster. It cannot override the will of the UK Parliament. This makes it junior to Westminster. @CXRAndy suggests tertiary - which means third in order, which somehow makes it even more junior. Other available words include sub-ordinate, secondary. Whatever you want to call it, Scotland is not a country in it's own right, thus it remains in hock to Westminster and the people of Scotland vote for their representatives in Westminster.
If it is acting within its legislative competence, ie those matters not reserved to Westminster, it can do it's own thing. There are plenty of examples around tax, benefits, speed limits and blood alcohol for driving were Scotland has replaced law enacted at Westminster with its own. It is emphatically NOT in hock to Westminster though there have certainly been cases where Westminster has legislatively stamped on Scotland's toes - the Public Bodies Act 2012 for one.
Nobody, not even Alastair Jack, is arguing that the Gender Recognition Scotland Bill proposes anything outwith the legislative competence of Holyrood. The UK government's argument, and the legal device it has used to prevent Royal Assent are to do with Westminster's assertion that it will have an effect over the border in England.
The Outer House of the Court of Session has said, in effect, that in doing so Westminster has not acted outside its powers or in a way it cannot reasonably do. They've not been down on the detail - that's not how it works.