Corbyn slams Brexit Bill as ‘unacceptable power grab’
Westminster leader backs Scottish Labour’s plan to reject bill
Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn has said the UK’S Brexit Bill is a “power grab” on the authority of the Scottish Parliament and branded this “unacceptable” on a visit to Glasgow.
Scottish leader Richard Leonard also confirmed that Labour MSPS will vote against the bill in its current form when it comes before Holyrood next week, meaning the Scottish Parliament is likely to withhold legislative consent.
It is already opposed by the Scottish Government.
The UK party leader’s backing for Scottish Labour over theeuwithdrawalbillmaybe seen as a snub for the Welsh Labour government, which had similar “power grab” concerns, but has now backed a compromise deal rejected by the Scottish Government.
Mr Corbyn held talks with Mr Leonard and shadow Scottish secretary Lesley Laird on the issue of the EU Withdrawal Bill ahead of a speech in Govan yesterday.
He said later: “I’m very happy that the Scottish Labour party will be voting against the legislative consent proposal next week. Quite clearly there is a power grab going on by Whitehall on the EU Withdrawal Bill.
“What they’re doing is taking powers from Brussels, which ought to go to Scotland, Wales and the English regions and instead hoarding them in Whitehall. That’s totally unacceptable to us and we’ve made that very clear.”
The concerns centre on 24 key powers coming back from Brussels after Brexit, in areas like farming and fishing, which will go to Westminster when they should rest at Holyrood in line with devolution. UK ministers say they are needed to ensure the integrity of the UK single market.
Mr Leonard said: “When the legislative consent motion comes before the Scottish Parliament next Tuesday, as things stand at the moment here today, we will almost certainly vote against a consent motion in the Scottish Parliament.”
UK Cabinet Secretary David Lidington described Mr Corbyn’s comments as a “great pity”.
“The First Minister of Wales said only this week in the Welsh Assembly that this was a good deal and that hard negotiation had established some common ground on which we had been able to reach agreement,” he said.
scott.macnab@scotsman.com