CONSERVATIVE leadership candidate Robert Jenrick has said he would not consult the Scottish Parliament on his plans to leave the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) if he ever became prime minister.
The ex-immigration minister told the BBC he would not give any more powers to Holyrood despite claiming he is pro-devolution.
Jenrick is vying to be Leader of the Opposition against Kemi Badenoch, with Rishi Sunak’s replacement set to be announced on November 2.
A key part of Jenrick’s pitch to Conservative members is leaving the ECHR to make it easier to deport people.
Leaving the convention – which was signed back in 1950 – would stop people being able to legally challenge their removal from the UK.
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Jenrick said leaving the convention was a reserved matter and he would therefore not ask the Scottish Parliament for legislative consent if his party ever reclaimed power at Westminster.
This is despite concerns being raised that leaving the ECHR would impact on the Scotland Act.
He said: “It is a reserved matter. It is a national constitutional and legal question.
“It is an established fact that it is a reserved matter, but absolutely I want to work with people across the UK.”
The Scottish Government said the convention was the foundation of the devolution settlement, defining the powers of both the Government and the Scottish Parliament.
In an interview with the BBC, Jenrick said he would not hand any more powers to Holyrood and rejected the idea of a Scottish work visa.
He said: “I don’t support that. It’s impractical – you can’t ask someone to come to this country for a job in Edinburgh and then prevent them from moving to a job in Newcastle a few months down the line.
“It is unnecessary. Unemployment in Scotland is not so different from the rest of the UK.”
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Earlier this month SNP MP Stephen Gethins tabled a bill in Westminster to amend the Scotland Act to allow for a separate Scottish workers’ visa. The Labour Government has slapped down the idea.
Jenrick also spoke of how he would like to see more oil fields in the North Sea developed like Rosebank and Jackdaw.
He went on to blame the Labour Government for the closure of the Grangemouth oil refinery rather than the previous Tory administration.
Jenrick said: “The issue of Grangemouth is we have an international business facing a decision at board level as to whether to invest a large amount of money in upgrading the facility.
“They’ve looked at the new government and decided there is a hostile environment towards the industry and will not make an investment. We will never know what would have happened if there was a Conservative government in place.
“I think the fundamental issue of Grangemouth, or across the industry, is there is a Labour government that has created a hostile environment to oil and gas – that has to change.”
So far only two Scottish Conservative MPs have publicly backed Jenrick – John Lamont and John Cooper.
Three MSPs have backed Badenoch including Scottish Tory leadership runner-up Murdo Fraser.
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