The Scottish National Party tabled a motion of no confidence in the Government because of the Government's refusal to honour their manifesto commitment to the Scottish people. However, the Scottish National Party has other areas of dispute with the Government on which we lack confidence in the Government, and I shall deal with those presently.

The reality of the political situation in Scotland is that a majority voted "Yes" for a Scottish Assembly and that Scottish Assembly is not being delivered. We have heard some complaints during and since the campaign that only about 30 per cent. of the people voted in favour of an Assembly. There were complaints from the "No" campaigners that those in favour of a "Yes" vote were claiming that an abstention meant"No ". Whether or not that was true, it certainly appears to be the case subsequently when we hear the figures being totalled up and the claim made that only one-third of the people of Scotland voted for the Assembly. Of those who turned out, there was a clear majority for a "Yes" vote. That is the reality of the situation, and that is the system by which such decisions have been made both in this House and at elections generally.

Whichever party wins the next election—be it the party of the Prime Minister or that of the Leader of the Opposition—and no matter how small the percentage, it is fair to assume that there will be no great rush of people to work out with computers whether it has a 40 per cent. backing. It will nip smartly into No. 10 and claim that it has a mandate to carry out whichever of its doctrinal policies it was elected on. If the events of the last five years have proved anything, they have proved that the London-based parties cannot be trusted to look after Scotland's interests.

As the Prime Minister said yesterday, devolution has been a question in Scotland for at least 10 years. Yet, although every political party on the Scottish scene went into the last election committed to an Assembly, all that happened after the election was that there were more talks and more White Papers. We then had the first Scotland and Wales Bill, which was killed off. After that we had the Scotland Bill and the 40 per cent. provision was inserted. Now that the campaign in favour was successful, Westminster wants to kill the Scotland Act.

I take the Prime Minister's point about the right hon. Lady's lack of any commitment to devolution. I do not expect any commitment from her. However, she will have to live in the real world, assum- ing that she is returned after the next election. The Scottish people will educate her if she happens to be at No. 10 Downing Street at that time. The problem will not go away. It will be lodged on her desk and will have to be dealt with.

Incidentally, in view of the line that he took in the referendum campaign, the noble Lord Home has a moral obligation to ensure that something emerges from the Conservatives which is better than the Government's Act. They all said that it was a bad Act. It was far from perfect, and we agreed that it was far from perfect, but it was made a bad Act by many of the people who were making that claim because they tore it to pieces in its passage through the House. It was made worse than it was originally.

The Labour Government have made no real attempt to deal with Scotland's persistently lower living standards and poorer social conditions. As my hon. Friend the Member for Perth and East Perthshire (Mr. Crawford) pointed out in the debate on public expenditure, Scotland has a better export performance than the United Kingdom as a whole. The chairman of the Scottish Council (Development and Industry) stated recently: Between 1974 and 1977, exports from Scotland rose by 24 per cent. in real terms compared with 14 per cent. for the United Kingdom as a whole. The latest report by Reward Regional Surveys Ltd.—an independent consumer research organisation—shows that the cost of living in Scotland is 4·5 per cent. above the United Kingdom average and that the cost of consumer goods is higher in Scotland.

Scottish families are double losers in the price war. Although the cost of basic items such as food, household goods and transport is higher in Scotland than the United Kingdom average, the Government's own family expenditure survey shows that Scottish family incomes are considerably lower than they are in other parts of the United Kingdom. Retail prices in Scotland have risen by more than 10p in the pound in the past year—again, the biggest increase in the United Kingdom. Despite all this, it has taken considerable pressure from my party and a good deal of work by my hon. Friend the Member for Dunbartonshire, East (Mrs. Bain) to get the Government grudgingly to agree to an investigation into prices in Scotland.

The Government have a dreadful record on inflation. When the Prime Minister made the point about a reduction in the figure, the question was well put as to who had raised it to a high level in the first place. Despite the present temporary drop in inflation, the plain fact is that the value of the pound has more than halved in the five years that this Government have been in office.

What are the Government doing in the face of this situation? Scotland is being starved of Government expenditure. Indeed, the White Paper, approved by the House on 19 March, envisages a lower level of public expenditure in Scotland than in the United Kingdom as a whole. The five-year growth rate for the United Kingdom has been set at 10 per cent. while the corresponding growth rate projected for Scotland between 1979–80 and 1982–83 is only 6·4 per cent.

In addition, Scotland receives far less than her fair share in such areas as the nationalised industries, defence and foreign affairs. There is scarcely any money in the forward planning for roads between now and 1983—a glaring omission at a time when Scotland needs additional infrastructure to back up the oil and other industries.

I end by returning to the question of Scottish government. I say to the Government and to the Conservatives that the Scottish desire for self-government is alive and thriving. Resentment is growing at the apparent wish of the majority here to frustrate that desire and to make divisions in Scotland. There can be no excuse of a bad Act, no all-party talks as a further exercise of futility and no propaganda that tries to turn a majority vote into a minority.

These do not take a trick any longer. It is a pity that more Labour MPs do not back their own party policy and legislation, and the Government may have to pay the price.