‘Repeal Bill’ will be redrawn to suit MSPs, says Mundell
KEY Brexit legislation is set to be redrawn to secure support from MPs and MSPs, the Scottish Secretary has confirmed.
David Mundell yesterday said he expected the so-called ‘Repeal Bill’ to be redrafted and claimed he is ‘very close’ to securing the support of the Scottish Government.
He insisted that it is important the EU Withdrawal Bill does receive the consent of Holyrood before it finishes its progress through Westminster.
And the SNP’s Brexit Minister Michael Russell said failure to secure the support of MSPs would spark a ‘constitutional crisis’.
Mr Mundell’s comments provide the first confirmation from a UK Government minister that the Withdrawal Bill will be amended to address concerns that it amounts to a ‘power grab’.
Speaking on the BBC’s Sunday Politics Scotland programme, he said that ‘of course it matters’ that the Bill secures the support of the Scottish parliament through a legislative consent motion.
He added: ‘We understand the issues and concerns that have already been raised but of course the point at which the Bill will come before the parliament for this consent is likely to be around Easter when it has completed its House of Commons passage, and that may well be a Bill that is in a different format.
‘That is the Bill on which parliament will be giving its consent.’
He said: ‘We’ve put in a great deal of work on both sides over the last few months. We are very close to getting agreement on exactly what should happen to each of the 111 issues on the list that was published, how they should be dealt with after we leave the EU, where some of those powers and responsibilities will come directly to the Scottish parliament.
‘Some will be dealt with by informal arrangements across the UK and there will be a small number for which legislative mechanisms will be required.’
The SNP initially demanded that every power in devolved areas must come back to Holyrood. However, in recent weeks, it has accepted that some UK-wide ‘common frameworks’ will be required. Mr Russell yesterday told the BBC that the Bill in its current form would undermine devolution.
He said: ‘We are making progress but a great deal now depends on changing the Withdrawal Bill. I think the UK Government knows that.
‘Neither ourselves or the Welsh government can accept the Bill as it stands. It will cause great damage to Scotland and to Wales and Northern Ireland.
‘There are two questions at issue. First of all, can we give legislative consent? That’s a formal process. If we refuse that then the constitutional crisis deepens and the House of Lords I think would look askance at the Bill.
‘Secondly, as a practical business, if the UK is leaving the EU then can we get frameworks in place that will allow us to continue to operate in agriculture, in the environment, in certain legal areas, without a cliff edge?’