HOLYROOD’s Tories look set for a lonely afternoon, with the SNP, Labour, the Lib Dems and the Greens all preparing to vote against consenting to Westminster’s power grab.

Tory constitution spokesman Adam Tomkins made a last minute, desperate plea to Willie Rennie and Richard Leonard, ahead of today’s debate on the Legislative Consent Motion on the EU Withdrawal Bill.

Tomkins told Leonard and Rennie that they were risking the “integrity of the United Kingdom” by not siding with the Tories.

“Let’s be clear: Labour and Liberal Democrat support would not amount to backing for the UK Conservative Government. They would be supporting our United Kingdom and our established system of devolution,” he claimed.

The reason for the Tory rare consensus between SNP, Green, Labour and Lib Dems MSPs is clause 15, formerly clause 11 of the UK Government’s EU Withdrawal Bill.

The law itself is effectively supposed to take the UK out of the EU, and transfer all laws and powers from Brussels to Britain.

The problem is that clause 15 of that bill automatically transfers those new powers to Whitehall.

It will be up to ministers in London to decide then if those powers should go to the Scottish and Welsh parliaments, or if they should become part of UK wide common frameworks.

That was described as a “power grab” by the First Ministers of Wales and Scotland, and even the Scottish Tories said they found the initial bill troublesome.

Months of negotiations has seen some agreement, and the Scottish Government are happy with the idea of common frameworks, but as long as Holyrood has the ability to accept or reject them.

The UK Government has balked at this on around 24 of the powers being repatriated from Brussels, unwilling to give MSPs an effective veto.

They have insisted the power retained by Whitehall would only be kept for seven years.

But Scottish Brexit minister Michael Russell said parliament needed “to unite to protect the powers of devolution”.

“This is not some abstract issue – this covers key policy areas such as farming, food and drink, fisheries and protecting the environment,” Russell added.

“I have said time and again it is unacceptable that the legislation gives the UK Government the power to ban the Scottish Parliament from legislating on devolved areas for up to seven years without the parliament’s consent. That is why I must recommend the Scottish Parliament votes against accepting the bill in its current form.

“There is a clear solution which is, as I have said and as the committee agreed last week, to simply remove [clause 15] from the bill. I hope the UK Government will make this simple change before the legislation is passed and respect the devolution settlement Scotland voted for.”

Tomkins insisted the UK Government had moved to “accommodate fair concerns raised by all parties in Scotland”.

“Those changes mean that, when we leave the EU, power will be held closer to people and communities across the UK. The Scottish Conservatives pushed hard for these changes and we are pleased to support them.

“These plans have been backed by the Labour Government in Wales. They have received support from senior Labour and the Liberal Democrat figures in Holyrood and Westminster.”

He said the blame for the lack of agreement in Scotland was because of Nicola Sturgeon.

Scottish Greens co-convener Patrick Harvie said MSPs needed to stand against Theresa May and Ruth Davidson’s “devolution demolition squad”.

“Sadly we know that the Tories’ understanding of the word ‘consent’ is a farce, and that they are determined to put a wrecking ball through the devolution settlement regardless.”

Labour’s Neil Findlay said there was still time to fix the bill.

UK ministers have not said whether they will legislate without gaining consent from the parties.