Calman: Scottish Parliament "off to a good start"

The Calman Commission has published its first report, and it's available for you to read here.

Not only is the Scottish Parliament "off to a good start", but having listened to the people of Scotland they've found that "the devolution settlement is in practice operating successfully". Not down in England it's not.

Predictably they've rejected full fiscal independence as incompatible with the Union (as it would be). I've only quickly scanned the report but it would appear that there's not much about the democratic deficit in England and the disgraceful constitutional bias against England. Who'd have thought? But the following at least gave me some amusement:

Former Scottish Rural Development Minister Ross Finnie MSP, speaking of his experience as a Minister who had to deal frequently with the UK Government and the other devolved administrations, spoke of the problem faced by UK Ministers and officials who appeared to have difficulty distinguishing between when they were speaking for the UK and they were only speaking for English interests.

The Commission notes the perception that, where a UK Government Minister speaks for both England’s interests and those of the UK, this may give rise to a lack of transparency or apparent conflict of interest. One suggestion made was that the relevant Secretary of State chair meetings with devolved Ministers seeking to agreed a UK wide position, with a UK Minister of State or Parliamentary Under-Secretary representing the view of England. The Commission would welcome
views on this.

In a United Kingdom, with shared interests and shared sense of citizenship, the Commission believes that the Governments within the Union should work together in partnership to achieve the greater good of all citizens. The Commission therefore believes that effective and transparent relationships between the Parliaments, Governments and the institutions of State are of the utmost importance.

The Governments of the United Kingdom (Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland and the United Kingdom) working in partnership together with, presumably, the Parliamentary Under-Secretary for England. What a noble vision.

UPDATE: Unlock Democracy have responded.

...the implications of furthering Scottish devolution affect the whole of the UK, not just Scotland. There is a real danger that if it looks at Scottish devolution in isolation of the wider constitutional settlement, the conclusions of the Calman Commission could prove to be even more divisive than the status quo.

Or, as I wrote in my submission to Calman:

As an Englishman I must say that I find it hypocritical of Gordon Brown, and others who signed the Scottish Claim of Right, to now deny that same sovereign right to the people of England, especially as recognition of the Scottish sovereign right, in the form of the devolution that has followed, has moved power away from Westminster in a way that has damaged English voters. My concern, and that of many other Englishmen and women, is that enhanced powers for the Scottish Parliament will simply increase the democratic deficit in England that has resulted from the asymmetric devolution ’settlement’.

Why haven't they addressed that?

UPDATE II: Further early comment from Fraser Nelson, Tom Griffin, O'Neill, Brian Taylor and The Steamie.