Johnson rejects SNP’S claim of a ‘full-scale assault on devolution’

BORIS JOHNSON has accused the SNP of attempting to erect trade barriers between England and Scotland as he firmly rejected claims that his government had launched the “biggest power grab” of the devolution era.

The UK Government will today unveil plans it says will ensure seamless trade within the UK after the Brexit transition period ends next year.

Under the proposals, which will be put out to consultation, products meeting standards set by legislators in one part of the UK would have to be accepted in the other UK nations.

The measure is designed to provide simplicity for businesses and to make it easier for Britain to strike trade deals with other nations. UK ministers fear trade agreements will be harder to negotiate if foreign companies have to meet different regulations or standards in England, Scotland, Wales or Northern Ireland.

The Prime Minister said yesterday that under the changes, which relate to policy areas that are nominally devolved but had previously been decided by the EU, devolved administrations would receive a swathe of new powers.

Stormont will receive 157 new powers, Holyrood 111 and the Welsh Parliament 70, the UK Government said.

However, proposals to write the principle of “mutual recognition” – meaning regulations from one part of the UK will be recognised across the country – into law will be strongly resisted by the Scottish Government.

SNP ministers say they could be forced to accept lower standards, for example in devolved areas such as food or farming, and have accused UK ministers of an attempt to trespass into areas they control.

Challenged at Prime Minister’s Questions yesterday by the SNP’S Ian Blackford, who accused him of a “fullscale assault on devolution,” Mr Johnson said his opponent should be celebrating the new powers that would be coming to the Scottish Parliament.

“What we are doing is possibly the biggest single act of devolution to Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland in modern memory,” Mr Johnson said.