Member News
The prime minister has welcomed the Calman Commission's report on Scottish devolution, describing it as "serious and weighty".
The Commission has recommended major changes in the way government in Scotland is funded, and called for the country to have greater tax-varying powers.
Gordon Brown agreed that the way forward for Scotland was through "stronger devolution within a stronger Union".
Under the Calman report, income tax rates in Scotland would be set lower than they are at present in the rest of the UK, at 10 pence for the standard rate and 30 pence for the higher rate.
The tax reductions would be coupled with a cut in the amount of cash the Scottish Government receives from Westminster, while MSPs would then be given the power to decide on how far to raise the taxes to fund their spending plans.
The measure, alongside other tax proposals, could see Scotland become responsible for raising about a third of its £32bn annual spending.
The prime minister described the financial proposals for finance as "bold" but "realistic".
"I greatly welcome this report, and want to thank Sir Kenneth and his Commission for their work," he stated.
"Their analysis of Scotland's place in the UK is serious and weighty. I agree that the way forward for Scotland is stronger devolution within a stronger Union – 21st century devolution for a 21st century Union delivering interdependence rather than independence."
He described the finance proposals as "imaginative and bold", as well as "realistic" in terms of implementation.
"Scottish people want Scotland to preserve its distinctiveness while still being part of the wider UK," Brown argued. "Calman's recommendations will strengthen that.
"This report sets out the way forward for Scottish devolution. Of course we want to study it in detail, but we are now ready to work with the other parties who support Scotland's place in the UK to progress with it."
The Commission also called for Holyrood to be given the ability to lower the drink-drive limit in Scotland, as well as proposing new laws on air guns.
And devolving stamp duty, air passenger duty, the landfill tax and mineral tax are among other recommendations being put forward.
The chairman of the commission, Sir Kenneth Calman, told the BBC that the report's recommendations were "unanimous".
He said that the objective of the report was to "serve the Scottish people better".
"One of the major issues in our remit was to look at financial accountability," he explained.
"At the moment, the Scottish Parliament gets a block grant. It is able to spend that in anyway that it wishes and there is a great accountability for that component of it.
"There is no accountability really for raising the funding. What we have suggested is that you take the block grant and you substitute a proportion of that block grant for income tax raising powers and tax raising powers more generally."
He continued: "That gives them very real accountability and when you add in one or two other taxes we think that could be devolved, that is perhaps 30 per cent of the Scottish budget now accountable to the Scottish Parliament which is a big step forward."
Calman explained that the proposal would limit dependence on the block grant.
But the Commission had ruled out making changes to the Barnett formula.
"The Barnett formula stays until there is something else to put in its place," Calman said.
"That's an issue which is beyond Scotland. Colleagues in Wales are looking at that at the moment and the House of Lords is looking at it at the moment."
He suggested that there should be a more "needs-based" formula instead.
The Calman Commission was established in 2008 and tasked with studying ways to make the Scottish Parliament more affective after 10 years of devolution. The SNP administration is also holding a separate review of the constitutional position.
Dods Parliamentary Communications Ltd