The Sewel Convention was named after Lord Sewel, Minister of State in the Scottish Office during the passage of the Scotland Bill in 1998. In the Lords Committee stage of the Scotland Bill he stated that the Government expected “a convention to be established that Westminster would not normally legislate with regard to devolved matters in Scotland without the consent of the Scottish Parliament” (21 July 1998, Lords Hansard, vol 592, col 791).

In practice, the Convention also applies to Westminster legislation to alter the legislative competence of the Scottish Parliament or to amend the devolved responsibilities of Scottish Ministers.

Under the Convention, if the UK Government and the Scottish Government agree that it is appropriate to include provisions affecting devolved matters in a Westminster Bill, the Scottish Government invites the Parliament to give consent to those provisions being dealt with by Westminster. This involves the Scottish Government providing a memorandum about the UK Bill, which is usually considered by a relevant Scottish Parliament committee. The Scottish Government will also lodge a motion to which the Parliament as a whole is invited to agree. The motion must be decided on before the Bill reaches its final amending stage at Westminster in the House in which it was first introduced.

Prior to 30 November 2005, the motion was known as a Sewel motion and the memorandum was known as a Sewel memorandum. From 30 November 2005, the motion is known as a legislative consent motion and the memorandum as a legislative consent memorandum. The procedure for scrutiny of legislative consent memorandums and motions is set out in Chapter 9B of the Parliament’s Standing Orders.

This Chapter was added in November 2005 on the recommendation of the Procedures Committee. Its 7th Report, 2005 (Session 2) The Sewel Convention explains the new process in detail. Other useful links can be found in Annexe F to that Report.