Brexit ‘would boost MSPs’ powers’

SWEEPING new powers would be given to MSPs if the UK votes to leave the EU, according to a leading academic.

Professor Drew Scott said Holyrood would automatically have more control over fishing, farming and environmental policies after a Brexit vote.

The professor of European Union Studies at Edinburgh University told the BBC’s Scotland 016 show: ‘If the UK leaves the EU then by default these powers will come back to the Scottish parliament, not to the UK. That would create, in my view, a significant constitutional debate about how these powers should be exercised, how the policies should be paid for and how the relationship between the two governments will proceed.’

He said with around half of the EU budget spent on agriculture ‘you are talking about a significant amount of money’, adding: ‘Agriculture has been reformed really since devolution and what we have seen is the Scottish parliament has had more competence over the implementation of agricultural policy in Scotland, albeit it is still governed at EU level.

‘If it were to be the case that Britain left the EU, competence for farming would come back to the Scottish parliament, full stop. It would have to be financed, so a new financial deal would have to be agreed between Edinburgh and London to pay for farming.’

He said Scottish environmental policy could further diverge from the rest of the UK if there is a Brexit vote. ‘It would create inter-governmental discussions that would have to, I think, deal with some problematic issues,’ he added.

Last night, Jack Montgomery, of the Leave.EU campaign, said: ‘Professor Scott has confirmed the obvious: leaving the EU would restore the supremacy of the Scottish laws and the authority of the Scottish courts, while granting Holyrood sweeping new powers in a huge range of policy areas.

‘Why is a Scottish Government so implacably opposed to so-called London rule so uninterested in ending Brussels rule?’