Sturgeon threatens to derail Brexit on powers
Fury as Sturgeon warns party will refuse to approve laws that will see UK pull out of EU
NICOLA Sturgeon faced a backlash last night after threatening to derail Brexit by refusing to approve key legislation relating to the UK leaving the European Union.
The SNP leader accused the UK Government of plotting a ‘power grab’ of key powers coming back to the UK from Brussels.
She also confirmed that Nationalist MSPs will refuse to give their ‘legislative consent’ for the Great Repeal Bill in a Holyrood vote if they do not believe Scotland is getting a fair deal.
Although any Scottish parliament vote could be overruled by the UK Government, that would raise the prospect of the issue being dragged through the courts.
But UK ministers pledged that Holyrood will see a ‘significant increase’ in its powers after Brexit as policy-making around key EU laws comes back to the UK from Brussels.
Critics accused Miss Sturgeon of ‘petty politicking’ by trying to stoke grievance with Westminster rather
than securing the best deal for Scotland. At First Minister’s Questions, Miss Sturgeon said: ‘The issue with the Great Repeal Bill is that, if powers that are currently with the European Union in areas that are wholly devolved – agriculture and fishing, for example – are to be repatriated, where should they go?
‘Under the Scotland Act 1998, those powers should automatically come to the Scottish parliament. I discussed this with the Prime Minister on Monday – and nobody in the Conservative Party will give that guarantee.
‘That leads me to suspect the Tories are planning a power grab on parliament. That will be absolutely unacceptable.’
The devolved parliaments are given a vote on a ‘legislative consent motion (LCM)’ for any Bills at Westminster which impacts on their powers.
The Great Repeal Bill, published yesterday, confirms that parts of the legislation are ‘within the competence’ of the devolved parliaments, which means an LCM is likely to be required.
Asked if the SNP would give its consent to the Great Repeal Bill, the First Minister’s spokesman said: ‘In terms of the removing competence element, we wouldn’t in those circumstances be giving legislative consent.’
He added: ‘We have no intention of facilitating or enabling the removal of powers from this parliament.’
The Great Repeal Bill is the formal mechanism which scraps the 1972 European Communities Act and turns all EU laws affecting Britain into UK laws.
Ministers would then be able to decide whether or not to keep the laws in place or make changes to them.
If the Scottish parliament voted to withhold legislative consent, it could be overruled by the UK Government.
However, that would open up the possibility of a court battle with the Scottish Government, which has already unsuccessfully taken its demands for a vote on triggering Article 50 to the Supreme Court.
Nicola Sturgeon is expected to today write to Theresa May formally requesting the power to hold another independence referendum.
But the Prime Minister has already confirmed she will reject the request.
The SNP is expected to consider a ‘political work-torule’ in protest at the decision, where it attempts to disrupt the activities of the UK Government by refusing to give support when required.
Scottish Conservative constitution spokesman Adam Tomkins said: ‘The SNP is complaining about the return of substantial new powers which – under its plans – would remain in Brussels. If ever people needed to see their utter hypocrisy, this is it.
‘As the Prime Minister has made crystal clear, the UK Government expects substantial new powers to be delivered to our devolved parliaments as a result of Brexit.
‘At the same time, it is sensible to ensure that UK frameworks are applied so that as those powers come back, nothing is done that fragments our own United Kingdom. That might be good for the SNP but it would be bad for Scottish jobs.’
Mr Tomkins added: ‘The SNP has been humiliated by today’s survey showing that most people don’t want a separate Brexit deal in Scotland. Mike Russell and his colleagues now need to ditch the petty politicking and work with the UK Government to make this plan work for all of us, here in Scotland, and elsewhere in the UK.’
Unveiling the Bill yesterday, Brexit Secretary David Davis said Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland should expect a ‘significant increase’ in their powers.
Asked by Shadow Brexit Secretary Keir Starmer if the Bill would be used to ‘hoard powers’ at Westminster, Mr Davis said: ‘No powers currently exercised by them will be taken away. We have said that time and again. We also expect there to be a significant increase in the powers exercised by the devolved administrations.
‘But I say this – we have to maintain the United Kingdom internal market too. That is four times as important to Scottish businesses, for example, as the European market.
‘It is incredibly important to Northern Irish and Welsh businesses too, and the administrations understand that.
‘But we will be having discussions with them at length – we have started – about how we exercise this, and I am happy to talk to him directly about the matter if that is useful to him.’
Brexit Minister Michael Russell said: ‘There are no new powers proposed for the parliament beyond those required to fix the mess that will be caused by Brexit, exposing what have so far been empty promises from the UK Government.
‘In all other areas where powers already belong to the Scottish parliament the White Paper continues to threaten that in areas such as agriculture, fisheries and the environment, powers will be taken by the UK Government after Brexit.’
Comment – Page 14
‘Ditch the petty politicking’