Brexit battle: May hits back
PM condemns SNP plans... then urges new talks to end stand-off
THERESA May has condemned the SNP’s decision to publish its own Brexit legislation after threatening to reject her own proposals.
The Prime Minister said this week’s move to put forward a Scottish ‘Continuity Bill’ was ‘unnecessary’ and urged ministers to continue negotiations to end the stand-off over her EU Withdrawal Bill.
Her comments came as the Scottish Government’s most senior law officer yesterday insisted that Holyrood’s Presiding Officer was wrong to rule that the SNP’s proposed legislation would not be within the ‘legislative competence’ of Holyrood.
The latest developments provide further evidence that the two governments could end up doing battle in the Supreme Court.
The Scottish Government has repeatedly insisted that the EU Withdrawal Bill amounts to a ‘power grab’ because some key powers in devolved areas will be controlled by Westminster rather than Holyrood.
Last week, the UK Government attempted to resolve the dispute by offering to change its legislation to allow the vast majority of powers in devolved areas to be handed to Holyrood, aside from a small number to be held until a UK-wide ‘common framework’ is agreed.
Despite that, the SNP went ahead with its own ‘Continuity Bill’, which proposes that all powers in devolved areas automatically transfer from Brexit to Holyrood.
SNP Westminster leader Ian Blackford raised the issue in the Houses of Commons, telling Mrs May it was ‘no surprise that the Scottish and Welsh governments are putting forward continuity bills to stop the power grab by Westminster’.
But Mrs May said the move was ‘unnecessary’ as her Government had given an ‘absolute commitment’ to amending the EU Withdrawal Bill. She added: ‘It would be rather more helpful if he concentrated on reaching an agreement in relation to the withdrawal agreement. We want to ensure that more powers are devolved to the devolved administrations, and that is what we are going to deliver.’
She insisted the ‘vast majority’ of powers coming back from Brussels would go to Edinburgh, Cardiff and Belfast and said she will continue to talk to the devolved administrations.
On Tuesday, Presiding Officer Ken Macintosh published his report on the proposed Continuity Bill, which concluded that it would ‘not be within the legislative competence of the Parliament’ as it would not be compatible with European Law.
However, at Holyrood yesterday, the Scottish Government’s Lord Advocate, James Wolffe, said he disagreed as the Bill would not come into effect until Britain leaves the EU.
He also argued that, if the legislation is judged incompatible with EU law then the same argument should apply for the UK Government’s EU Withdrawal Bill. He said: ‘It is not incompatible with EU law to make provision to deal with the inevitable consequences in domestic law of withdrawal from the EU in this way. Indeed that appears to be the basis upon which the UK Government’s own EU Withdrawal Bill, upon which this Bill has been modelled, proceeds.
‘If that is right and if, contrary to the view of the Scottish Government, this Bill is incompatible with EU law, then the same reasoning would apply equally to the UK Government’s Bill.’
He also clarified that the Scottish Government’s view is that, if MSPs do not give legislative consent to the EU Withdrawal Bill, all elements relating to devolution should be stripped out of it, allowing for them to be replaced by the Continuity Bill. That approach would allow for the EU Withdrawal Bill to still pass in the House of Commons.
Yesterday, First Minister Nicola Sturgeon said: ‘Scottish ministers are satisfied this Bill is within the legislative competence of the Parliament.’
‘Concentrated on reaching an agreement’