Continuity Bill passes its second stage

The Scottish Government’s emergency Brexit legislation last night passed its second stage at Holyrood after 11 hours of scrutiny.

MSPS forced through changes to the Continuity Bill as they accused ministers at Holyrood of attempting their own “power grab”.

Theukwithdrawalfromthe European Union (Legal Con- tinuity) (Scotland) Bill has been brought forward amid an ongoing row with Westminster over the return of devolved powers from Brussels once Britain leaves the EU.

The Scottish and Welsh governments have refused to recommend granting legislative consent to the UK government’s EU Withdrawal Bill, which will transpose EU law into UK law following Brexit, branding it a Westminster “power grab”. Brexit minis- ter Mike Russell offered concessions on the issue of giving Scottish ministers the power to keep pace with European Union regulations post Brexit.

The legislation had proposed these last up to 15 years – an initial five years and two possible extensions of the same length.

However, the committee voted to reduce this to a maximum total of five years – an initial three years after Brexit with two one-year extensions then permissible.