Cross-party demand for UK to give ground over post-brexit powers

Opposition parties joined the SNP in calling for the UK government to give ground and ensure all powers returning from Brussels after Brexit are fully devolved.

In his Brexit speech, Labour leader jeremy corbyn said that “powers over devolved policy areas currently exercised by the EU should go directly to the relevant devolved body after Brexit, so that power is closer to the people.”

Shadow Scottish secretary Lesley Laird said the UK government was “in denial that it is hurtling towards a constitutional crisis”.

“By continuing to withhold powers from the devolved administrations, that crisis will rear its head sooner rather than later,” Ms Laird said.

And speaking on behalf of the pro-single market campaign Open Britain, Scottish Labour MP Ian Murray said the UK government was “acting in bad faith”.

Lib Dem MP Christine Jardine called on the UK government to publish its planned amendments to the EU Withdrawal Bill, saying: “It’s not good enough to say that the Scottish Government will be consulted … either the powers are devolved or they are not.”