THE Scottish Government has told UK ministers that it’s not too late to get the consent of Holyrood for their Brexit repeal bill.
Scottish Brexit Minister Michael Russell yesterday put forward two proposals that he said would ensure the EU Withdrawal Bill “respects devolution”.
One, initially recommended by Holyrood’s Finance and Constitution Committee last week, was to remove the legislative constraint on the Parliament and proceed on the basis of “mutual trust and respect”.
That would result in Clause 11 being scrapped in its entirety and replaced by “reciprocal political commitments”.
The other proposal is to amend the bill so the Scottish Parliament’s consent is required before any orders restricting its powers are made.
Russell said: “The Scottish Parliament made it explicitly clear that the current EU Withdrawal Bill as it stands is not acceptable. It must now not be imposed.
“The Scottish Government and Parliament have already set out a clear way forward – either remove the legislative constraint and proceed on the basis of mutual trust, or amend the bill so the Parliament’s consent is required before any orders are made. The ball is in the UK Government’s court.
“The UK Government is asking the Scottish Parliament to trust that they will not take powers without our consent, yet if they fail to amend this bill after Parliament has refused consent they will have demonstrated exactly why the current proposals cannot be approved.
“The clock is ticking and we need urgent action that respects the position of the Scottish Parliament and the devolution settlement the people of Scotland voted for.”
The stooshie over the bill came up during First Minister’s questions yesterday.
The SNP’s Ash Denham asked Nicola Sturgeon: “What engagement has the Scottish Government undertaken with the UK Government since Tuesday when this Parliament, Tories excepted, united to refuse consent to the EU Withdrawal Bill?”
Sturgeon replied: “We continue to ask the UK Government to listen to, and more importantly respect the view of this Parliament, which was so decisively expressed in the vote on Tuesday.
“The requirement in the convention to respect the views of this Parliament and not to proceed with legislation that affects the powers of this Parliament without our consent is not a nicety, it’s not an add-on – it’s a fundamentally important part of our constitutional settlement.
“Those are actually the words of Adam Tomkins just a matter of weeks ago,” she added.
“So I would hope that the Tories would stand up for the rights of this Parliament and demand, like we do, that the UK Government listens.
“There is still time to get an agreement on this, but an agreement can only be reached if it respects the rights of this Parliament and is based on the fundamentally important principle of the consent – genuine consent – of this Parliament.”
On Tuesday, after the vote, which saw MSPs refuse to consent to the EU Withdrawal Bill by 90 votes to 30, David Mundell, the Scottish Secretary, said the UK Government would still proceed: “It will be the first time this has happened, but it was something that was envisaged in the devolution settlement, that there might be circumstances where consent wouldn’t be given – and that circumstance would permit the Westminster government to proceed with legislation on that basis and that’s what we intend to do.
He added: “The bill is already in the system obviously and there will be opportunity for further debate and discussion in Parliament but also between the two governments. I still think we can resolve this and that remains our objective.”
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