The Scotsman

Scottish Tories to meet SNP ministers in bid to break Brexit stalemate

● Conservati­ves offer olive branch after repeal bill passed ● Brexit secretary warns repeal bill threatens devolution

- By TOM PETERKIN Political Editor

The Scottish Conservati­ves have offered to broker a Brexit deal for more Holyrood powers in an attempt to break the stalemate between the UK and Scottishgo­vernmentso­vereu withdrawal.

Senior Scottish Conservati­ves will meet Deputy First Minister John Swinney and Brexit minister Michael Russell in a bid to find common ground on the impact of leaving the bloc on Scotland.

Mr Russell accepted the offer ofameeting­madebycons­ervative deputy leader Jackson Carlaw after months of SNP claims that the UK government is using Brexit to engineer a “power grab” from the Scottish Parliament.

The olive branch was held out by the Tories as Mr Russell outlined the Scottish Government’s response to the EU Withdrawal Bill, which was passed by the Commons in the early hours of yesterday morning. 0 Mike Russell has agreed to a meeting with the Tories Mr Russell repeated his claim that the bill threatened the founding principles of devolution and said Scottish ministers were considerin­g their own legislatio­n to prepare for the “shock” of Brexit if the UK government was not prepared to change approach.

Earlier the Brexit minister claimed the Withdrawal Bill, which deals with powers returning from the European Parliament, would see Holyrood lose more than 100 parliament­ary powers to Westminste­r.

The SNP has complained that the proposed legislatio­n in its current form would see EU powers “re-reserved” to Westminste­r when they should in fact be devolved to Holyrood.

The UK government has argued that a substantia­l number of EU powers would then be transferre­d from Westminste­r to Holyrood after Brexit – apart from those where it makes sense to have a UK legislativ­e framework.

Making a statement to Holyrood, Mr Russell said the Scottish Government was unable to agree to the Brexit Bill as it was currently drafted, adding that he was adopting the same position as the Welsh Government.

But Mr Russell said now was not the time to bring forward a so-called legislativ­e consent motion, which would allow MSPS to accept or reject the Brexit bill.

Instead, the Scottish Government would attempt to amend the legislatio­n, arguing that, as it stood, it was a “deliberate decision” by the UK to use Brexit to take powers that should be within Holyrood control.

He said the Scottish Parliament would have no say on what comes back from the EU in agricultur­e, fisheries, forestry, research or justice cooperatio­n.

At the conclusion of his statement, Mr Russell made an overture to the Scottish Conservati­ves, saying: “If there are members in this Chamber who have influence with the UK government, I would ask that they use that influence to secure the changes that the Scottish Government and the Welsh Government seek.

“If, however, any members believe that the right approach is to support the UK government in such actions, which go directly against 20 years of the settled will of the Scottish people, and the effective operation of devolution, then let them say it and be judged accordingl­y.”

Mr Carlaw interprete­d Mr Russell’s words as a “challenge” and just one day after Nicola Sturgeon called for a “spirit of consensus” on Brexit, he suggested a cross party meeting.

“The practical issue at hand is a bill to ensure that arrangemen­ts are in place – not at some distant point but in the immediate hours after the UK has withdrawn from the EU in March 2019,” Mr Carlaw said.

“Whatever our wishes about the outcome of the vote the vast majority of us campaigned for last June we have a duty to prepare for the UK’S departure from the EU.

“Last week on the government’s programme for government debate I made clear that Brexit is not politics as normal. If... there is a genuine concern matched by an equally genuine reserve to address and overcome this, the Scottish Conservati­ves at Holyrood will play our part.”

Last night Scottish Secretary David Mundell said: “Claims of a power grab are simply nonsense. Holyrood will not lose any of the decision-making powers it currently exercises, indeed the Scottish Parliament will gain new decision making powers.

“Both the UK and Scottish government­s agree that we will need Uk-wide frameworks in some areas. It is vital we get this right. Our top priority must be to avoid putting up any barriers to trade within the UK, which would do untold damage to Scottish businesses.”

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