SCOTLAND’S 13 Tory MPs chose pleasing Theresa May over standing up for their constituents in the Commons last night, when they voted for Whitehall’s “naked power grab” from Holyrood.

During the final stages of EU withdrawal Bill, the Tories refused to vote with all other Scottish MPs to back a Labour amendment which would have meant powers repatriated from Brussels after Brexit would have come to Scotland.

Instead they stood by the Bill’s controversial Clause 11, which means all powers repatriated from the EU go straight to London - even if they are in devolved areas. This was despite concerns from party colleagues in Holyrood.

The Bill, which transfers all EU law into British law, faces its final vote in the Commons today.

The SNP are set to try and derail the legislation tonight,using what's known as a reasoned amendment. However, the arithmetic in the parliament means its likely the Bill will pass and then it will be up to the Lords to make any changes.

It means the Scottish Tory members have effectively overruled the Scottish Parliament, and the majority of Scottish MPs, and left the big decisions about Brexit and the future of devolution to Michelle Mone, Andrew Lloyd Weber and the Archbishop of Canterbury.

Though the Tories voted for this, there was some unusually critical remarks from normally loyal backbenchers.

Stephen Kerr, the Tory MP for Stirling, said that “it sticks in my craw to think that unelected Lords will make the vital amendments to this vital constitutional Bill".

He added: “It is not really good enough, and as a member of the House of Commons I hang my head to think that we have somehow dropped the ball. The Bill will leave this House unamended and in an unsatisfactory state, and we are now dependent on unelected Lords to do our job for us.”

“The Government had control of the timetable—the deadlines were created by them—but they have let this chamber down by not delivering on what they promised. I really want to hear from a Minister at the Dispatch Box what the Government now plan to do in detail about amending clause 11. I want to hear much more about the shape of the amendment they will bring forward. It is time to get into the detail: we have had enough of the generalities and of the reassuring news, and we now want the detail."

SNP Europe spokesperson Stephen Gethins said last night’s failure to amend the Bill was “a shameful abdication of duty as thirteen Scottish Tory MPs marched into the lobby behind their Westminster masters to deny any safeguards to be put in place to protect devolved powers”.

He added: “We have heard time and time again from Scottish Tory MPs they are standing up for Scotland. This evening, they were presented with an opportunity to put party politics aside and join with SNP and Labour MPs to form a majority to hold the UK government to account - they did not just fail to take that opportunity, they actively undermined the foundations of devolution.

“It is now clear more than ever before, that Scottish Tory MPs are mere lobby fodder willing to let this failing and faltering UK government off the hook.

“It is a democratic abomination that unelected Lords will have more of a say on devolved powers than elected MPs, or for that matter, the Scottish Parliament.

"That is why the SNP have tabled a reasoned amendment declining to allow the EU Bill to proceed, because it is simply not fit for purpose as it undermines the fundamental principles of the Scotland Act 1998 by reserving to the UK Parliament powers that would otherwise be devolved to the Scottish Parliament."