Britain to hand back powers

MAJORITY OF RIGHTS RETURN TO DEVOLVED ADMINISTRATIONS

Sceptical Scottish and Welsh governments decline to give consent to the ‘Withdrawal Bill’.

Edinburgh

Britain’s government has made a “considerable offer” to ensure all devolved powers transfer back to Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland after Brexit, it said yesterday.

The Scottish and Welsh governments have accused the Westminster-based British government of mounting a power grab with its European Union (Withdrawal) Bill, which will largely ‘copy and paste’ European Union (EU) legislation into British law.

They have sought assurances that the powers devolved to them in areas such as fishing, farming and the environment will return to them rather than to London when Britain leaves the EU in March 2019.

“We have worked closely with the devolved administrations to find a way forward that respects the role of the devolved governments and ensures we are able to protect our vital UK internal market,” David Lidington, Britain’s Cabinet Office Minister, said in a statement.

“The proposal that we have put on the table is a considerable offer that I hope the devolved administrations will engage with constructively.”

The government said the changes it had made would mean that the vast majority of powers would automatically flow from the EU to the devolved administrations.

The British parliament must seek consent from the Scottish and Welsh assemblies when legislating on policy areas that overlap with their devolved powers.

But both have declined to give their consent to the “Withdrawal Bill” because they say it fails to respect the devolution agreement

Picture: Reuters Maddy Hacker is hoisted up by Jasmine Harper as they attempt an acrobatic stunt in front of the US Capitol Building in Washington on Wednesday.