THE SNP's leader at Westminster has used a point of order to say that the country was now facing a “constitutional crisis”.

Ian Blackford made the remarks shortly after the UK Government's Brexit Bill was granted of royal assent.

Blackford pointed to the "unprecedented" situation the Union finds itself in after the three devolved parliaments voted to reject the bill.

The devolved governments each voted on against a Legislative Consent Motion which would allow the UK to pass legislation on a devolved issue – but these votes have been ignored by Westminster.

Blackford told MPs: Something quite momentous has taken place with this royal assent.

"This is absolutely unprecedented and I say to the house that this is a constitutional crisis.

"We are faced with a situation which is completely unprecedented, when the government in Edinburgh, in Belfast and in Cardiff has not given consent to this Act of Parliament."

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He added: "And this completely contravenes the devolution settlement that made it clear that the consent of the devolved administrations had to be given in bills of parliament to become acts of parliament that involve the devolved administrations.

"I fully respect that those that voted for the Conservative Party in England have got what they wanted.

"But the fact remains that the people of Scotland were told in 2014 that, if we stayed in the UK, our rights as EU citizens would be respected.

"And moreover we were told that we were to lead the United Kingdom, that this was a family of nations, our rights would be respected.

"He continued: And we find today that our parliament has been ignored, our government has been ignored, and against the express wishes of the people of Scotland that voted in the referendum, and reaffirmed the right of the people of Scotland to determine their own destiny, that that has been ignored."

Under the so-called Sewel Convention, the UK Government is not supposed to legislate on matters covered by the devolved administrations without the devolved legislatures granting legislative consent.

The EU (Withdrawal Agreement) Act does contain provisions affecting devolved matters, yet the Scottish Parliament, the Welsh Assembly and the Northern Ireland Assembly have all recently voted to refuse legislative consent.

In 2017, during the Article 50 case, the Supreme Court ruled that the Sewel Convention was political in nature and not one that could be enforced by law.

The wording includes an opt-out – it says Westminster will “not normally legislate with regard to devolved matters without the consent” of the devolved legislatures – and there is precedent for the UK Government passing legislation after one of the devolved administrations refused consent.

It means that the votes in Edinburgh, Belfast and Cardiff cannot stop Brexit.

However, there is no precedent for a major piece of legislation being passed after all three devolved legislatures refused to grant it legislative consent.

Blackford said that Brexit has unleashed forces that could have a profound impact on the Union.