DEAR THERESA, GIVE ME MY REFERENDUM
To cap a historic week of public letter writing, Nicola Sturgeon pens a formal request to PM Theresa May asking for permission to hold IndyRef2
NICOLA Sturgeon is to be given “Robert the Bruce powers” to change Scottish laws affected by Brexit.
Some would say the moral of the famous Bruce and the Spider story – if at first you don’t succeed, try, try and try again – fits well for the First Minister and her dogged pursuit of independence.
But Sturgeon’s new powers won’t help her get her way over a second referendum. She still needs to go through Theresa May for that.
Brexit Secretary David Davis yesterday unveiled the Tories’ plan for a Great Repeal Bill to take back control of thousands of Brussels rules and regulations after they take us out of the European Union.
The task is so huge that they want to give their ministers “Henry VIII powers” to amend large parts of those laws with little scrutiny from MPs. The powers got their name because of Henry’s fondness for bypassing parliament.
Critics including Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn say that’s an affront to democracy but Government supporters insist it’s the only way to get the colossal job done.
They say Henry VIII powers will only be used for minor, technical changes and MPs will be free to “amend, repeal and improve” thousands of Brussels statutes.
Even that raises the prospect of Brexit laws gumming up Westminster for years to come.
Under the Bill, Sturgeon will get the same controversial armoury as UK ministers to allow her to make changes to Scots law. SNP MP Pete Wishart dubbed them Robert the Bruce powers yesterday as he demanded they be sent north.
But the First Minister is furious over where other powers might end up. She complained yesterday about the threat of a Westminster “power grab” hidden in the Bill.
Sturgeon told MSPs at First Minister’s Questions that it would be “absolutely unacceptable” if powers taken back from the EU in devolved areas such as fishing and agriculture went to Westminster.
She said: “The issue around the Great Repeal Bill is about powers currently with the EU. If they are to be repatriated in areas that are currently wholly devolved – agriculture, fishing, for example – where should those powers go?
“Under the current terms of the Scotland Act, those powers should automatically come to this chamber.”
Sturgeon said she discussed the issue with May on Monday but “nobody in the UK Government will give that guarantee”.
And she added: “It leads me to suspect that what the Tories are planning is a power grab on this Parliament and that will be absolutely unacceptable.”
At Westminster, Davis told MPs Holyrood would have “significant new powers” after Brexit.
But the Tories have yet to decide which of those new powers will be kept at Westminster and which will be devolved.
And with the highly complex Great Repeal Bill still being drafted, Davis couldn’t say what mechanism would be used to give Scotland more powers.
The SNP were quick to pounce on that. Brexit Minister Mike Russell accused the Tories of “empty promises”, pointing out that the Great Repeal Bill white paper talks about a UK-wide legal framework in areas such as agriculture, fisheries and the environment.
But the Tories say it makes sense to ensure such industries operate in a single UK market with the same standards and rules.
Scottish Conservative constitution spokesman Adam Tomkins said: “The SNP are complaining about the return of substantial new powers which, under their plans, would remain in Brussels.
“If ever people needed to see their utter hypocrisy, this is it.
“As the Prime Minister has made crystal clear, the UK Government expect substantial new powers to be delivered to our devolved parliaments as a result of Brexit.
“Mike Russell and his colleagues need to ditch the petty politicking and work with the UK Government to make this plan work for all of us, here in Scotland and elsewhere in the UK.”