Scottish minister Russell calls for ‘broken’ devolution to be replaced

UK Government actions over key Brexit legislation have “broken” devolution and it must be “remade or replaced”, Scotland’s Brexit minister has said.

Speaking at Holyrood Mike Russell said by pushing ahead with the UK Withdrawal Act despite the Scottish Parliament withholding consent, the UK Government had sparked a constitutional crisis.

Holyrood and Westminster are locked in an ongoing row over the legislation that governs the return of devolved powers to the UK following Brexit.

He said: “The constitutional crisis in these islands cannot be solved by the existing constitutional settlement.

“The weight of Brexit has been too great for the existing constitution to bear.

“The hostility of the avid Brexiteers, the indifference of the prime minister and the failure of the Tories... has allowed devolution to be broken and now it must be remade or replaced.”

He said his party believes the best solution is Scottish independence.

Mr Russell accused the UK Government of a “deliberate” breach of the Sewel Convention, which holds that the UK Government will not normally legislate on devolved matters without the consent of devolved administrations, and called for it to be enshrined in law.

Tory Adam Tomkins argued there had been no breach of the convention as in putting forward emergency legislation Mr Russell acknowledged these are not normal times.

He said the SNP “never liked” devolution and instead wanted to “break up” the UK.

Labour’s Neil Findlay accused both Scottish and UK governments of playing games and putting party interests first.