Showdown over SNP’s Brexit ‘wrecking Bill’
Westminster will challenge its legality in Supreme Court
‘Vital we avoid legal uncertainty’
A SHOWDOWN over Brexit will take place in Britain’s highest court after the UK Government embarked on a bid to block the SNP’s ‘wrecking Bill’.
The country’s top law officer yesterday asked the Supreme Court to rule on whether the Scottish parliament has exceeded its powers by passing its own Continuity Bill.
Taxpayers will foot the bill for the legal challenge, which could cost hundreds of thousands of pounds.
The Bill was pushed through by the SNP last month despite Holyrood Presiding Officer Ken Macintosh ruling it was not within the ‘legislative competence’ of the parliament and would be open to legal challenge.
The SNP proposed its Continuity Bill – dubbed a ‘wrecking Bill’ by the Tories – as part of a Brexit row with Theresa May.
Amid claims of a Westminster ‘power grab’, the Nationalists’ Bill will bring powers over devolved matters from the EU to Holyrood – despite UK ministers saying some must be reserved to protect internal trade.
Yesterday, Attorney General Jeremy Wright, QC, said he was challenging legislation by the Scottish and Welsh administrations because it would risk ‘creating serious legal uncertainty for individuals and businesses as we leave the EU’.
The Supreme Court is expected to hold a hearing in June to rule on whether the devolved parliaments have the power to pass their own Brexit legislation.
Mr Wright said: ‘This reference is a protective measure which we are taking in the public interest. The Government very much hopes this issue will be resolved without the need to continue with litigation.’
Lord Richard Keen, the UK Government’s Advocate General for Scotland, said: ‘Given the Presiding Officer’s view that the [Continuity] Bill was not within the legal scope of the parliament, it is important to ask the court to provide absolute clarity.
‘We are following the process set out in the Scotland Act 1998. Particularly in the run-up to Brexit, it is vital we avoid legal uncertainty in our statute book.’
The SNP insists that Scotland’s Lord Advocate, James Woolfe, has ruled the legislation is within the powers of the parliament.
Scottish Secretary David Mundell said the UK Government continues to hold ‘intense discussions’ to reach agreement with the Scottish Government on its own EU Withdrawal Bill.
Asked the implications of the UK Government losing the court case, Mr Mundell said: ‘I don’t see this action as being about winning or losing. What I see it being about is getting a definitive view on a piece of legislation.
‘Two separate views have been expressed – one from the Presiding Officer that it wasn’t within the competence of the Scottish parliament, the other by the Scottish Government and the Lord Advocate that it was.’
SNP Brexit Minister Michael Russell said: ‘Scottish ministers are satisfied the Bill is within legislative competence.
‘The Lord Advocate will be arguing in the Supreme Court that it is within the powers of the Scottish parliament to prepare for the consequences for devolved matters of UK withdrawal from the EU.
‘Our Continuity Bill is an important, necessary piece of legislation to prepare Scotland’s laws for Brexit while protecting the powers of the Scottish parliament.’
Nationalist MSP Ivan McKee said: ‘Scotland’s parliament made its voice clear, passing the Bill by 95 votes to 32. Yet, the Tories still, arrogantly, think they alone have the right to strike it down.’
The Scottish Government spent £136,000 on legal fees on a failed Supreme Court bid last year to demand Holyrood get a say on triggering Article 50.