LEADERS of the Scottish and Welsh governments have written joint letters to the Prime Minister and the European Council President urging them to agree more time for scrutiny of the proposed Brexit Bill.
Here's the full letter:
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Dear Boris,
We are writing subsequent to the proceedings in the UK Parliament on 19 October.
As you are no doubt aware, the United Kingdom government is required to seek legislative consent from both of our legislatures for the Withdrawal Agreement Bill.
This Bill will be among the most important piece of legislation ever considered by the UK Parliament, the Scottish Parliament and National Assembly for Wales with far-reaching implications for the whole of the United Kingdom and our future well-being.
Both our governments believe the deal you have negotiated with the EU will be even more damaging to Wales, Scotland and the United Kingdom than the previous unacceptable agreement made by your predecessor.
We therefore wish to state in the clearest possible terms that we and our legislatures need time to analyse and consider the draft Bill. We share the view which lay behind the amendment passed by a clear majority of the House of Commons that the time between now and 31 October provides insufficient opportunity to undertake this essential scrutiny.
It is essential that your government respects devolution, the legislative consent process and any decisions on consent that the Scottish Parliament and National Assembly may reach.
In this context, we note that you have now sought an extension of the Article 50 period, in line with the requirements of the EU (Withdrawal) (No. 2) Act 2019 (the “Benn Act”). We now urge you to comply fully and in good faith with that Act and secure such an extension from the EU to enable all three legislatures to carry out their proper constitutional and democratic functions.
Given our constitutional responsibilities for providing legislative consent, we have also written to the President of the European Council and we are enclosing a copy of that letter.
We are copying this letter to the Speaker of the House of Commons, the Lord Speaker and the leaders of all of the Parliamentary parties within the House of Commons.
NICOLA STURGEON & MARK DRAKEFORD
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