Brexit has ‘eroded’ trust in Westminster, says FM

Sturgeon says Holyrood will not co-operate until devolution is fixed

Trust in Westminster has been “eroded” by the Brexit negotiations, Nicola Sturgeon said. Clashes over Brexit laws have strained relations between Holyrood and London, the first minister said.

Holyrood will not give consent to any further Brexit legislation until the “broken” devolution system is fixed.

Ms Sturgeon wants protections written into law that would effectively give the Scottish Government a veto of some of the laws pulling the UK out of the bloc. Speaking after a meeting of the British-Irish Council in Guernsey, she said: “Our experience in recent weeks and months around the Withdrawal Bill discussions have put a strain on that trust and I think inevitably have eroded it. I am certainly very keen to see how we can rebuild it and re-establish it.”

David Lidington, de facto deputy prime minister, said there had been a “real” disagreement over the Brexit process.

He said: “I’m not going to hide at all from the fact the UK and Scottish governments have had a serious disagreement over the EU (Withdrawal Bill).” But he said he believed the Sewel Convention, which means Westminster does not normally legislate on devolved matters without Holyrood’s approval, had been “upheld in full”.

Scotland’s Brexit minister Mike Russell said the Scottish Government no longer trusted UK ministers following a breakdown in relations over the handling of the EU Withdrawal Bill.

He added that he “couldn’t conceive of circumstances” where MSPs would vote to give approval for further legislation related to leaving the EU, such as trade, agriculture and fisheries.

MPs approved parts of the EU Withdrawal Bill related to devolution after less than 20 minutes of debate last week, despite the Scottish Parliament voting against granting formal consent for the Bill.

Mr Russell said: “We are absolutely clear that the way that devolution operates and the structures of devolution have failed, and they failed because the UK Government is refusing to operate them.

“For example, on the Sewel Convention, we need to have the interpretation of that written down in statute and made legally binding.”

Scottish Tory spokesman Adam Tomkins said: “The nationalists don’t care about making Brexit work for Scotland, or indeed the wellbeing of devolution. They simply want to break up Britain, and this is the latest ploy in that process. If anyone is proving untrustworthy, it’s the SNP government.”