Holyrood decisions are at the mercy of the Tory government

The movements mobilised thousands of activists through protests and direct action across Scotland and beyond, finally coming to a head in 2001 when the EU agreed to an effective ban.

None of us could have predicted that we would be fighting the same battles 20 years later.

Yet, with the emergence of the UK Government’s Genetic Technology Bill that is exactly what we are having to do. The bill, which is currently going through Parliament, would legalise the sale of gene-edited foods – a category that was previously covered by the EU ban.

READ MORE: UK bill to let Tory government change Scottish law in 'danger to devolution'

The line between gene-edited foods and GMOs is a very thin and blurred one, so many of us see this as a cynical attempt to reintroduce GMOs through the backdoor.

In 2021, the UK Government conducted a public consultation on the proposed changes. The majority rejected them.

Some of the strongest criticisms have come from nature charity the Soil Association, which described the technology as “the wrong answer to the wrong question”. It warned that the bill would risk diverting research and resources away from sustainable food systems. In other words, it poses as a solution to fears over food security but truly does little to change our current unsustainable farming practices.

The charity also warned that this is very new and developing technology and the lack of safeguards could “unleash a genetic modification free-for-all.”

The bill has also been opposed by animal welfare campaigners. Increased use of pesticides, impact on water quality, factory farming, bad breeding practices – the list goes on. And not to mention the bigger issue of this tech remaining in the hands of a small number of very powerful companies.

One of my biggest concerns is that the UK Government’s draft legislation would have no labelling requirements for gene-edited products – making it almost impossible to avoid these products.

All of this means that the bill could be a big leap backward for transparency, animal welfare and environmental standards.

Yet, there is a further concern about the way the UK bill has been drafted. A short clause would see UK ministers granted the power to amend devolved Scottish regulations related to the bill. This means that UK ministers could amend Scottish regulations in agriculture, animal welfare and environmental standards – all areas devolved to the Scottish Parliament.

The Scottish Government has rightly opposed this threat to devolution and has refused to give it its legislative approval. Instead, it has called on the UK Government to amend it to ensure that it does not have an impact here in Scotland – a position affirmed by our Parliament earlier this week.

However, despite all of this, the reality is that we may not really have a choice. And that reality is thanks to the UK Internal Market Act.

READ MORE: Gene editing should be embraced by Scotland, says Alister Jack

Introduced in the aftermath of Brexit, the act states that gene-edited products created, traded or sold in the rest of the UK cannot be prevented from sale in Scotland.

This is despite the fact that agriculture and food standards are clearly devolved powers.

Worse still, this is not happening in isolation. It is part of a Tory vision of a deregulated post-Brexit Britain where standards don’t matter and nor do rules.

It is also part of a much wider and intensifying hostility to devolution. Since Brexit, we have seen a Westminster power grab which is overruling our Parliament and undermining our democracy.

Unfortunately, it is a power grab that is picking up momentum. Only last week we saw their disgraceful attempts to use a Section 35 order to block the Gender Recognition Reform Bill, which was supported by an overwhelming majority of MSPs.

It is not just a case of governments taking different positions or disagreeing with one another. Underpinning it are fundamental issues of power, where it lies and who has it.

This change would unambiguously encroach on devolved areas. It would set a precedent that would hugely undermine the rights of all devolved parliaments and our entire constitutional settlement.

Devolution cannot work if we are constantly being overruled on devolved issues. Successive Tory governments have shown a consistent disregard for so many of the decisions that we make in Holyrood.

Our Parliament should have the power to take the actions that it sees fit to protect the environment and the public, particularly in clearly devolved areas like this.

Our decisions should never be at the mercy of a distant and unaccountable Tory government that has proven itself incapable of listening.