THERESA May has admitted her Government will have to choose between Brexit or respecting the will of the Scottish Parliament.

Speaking during the debate on the Queen’s Speech, the Prime Minister said it was probable Holyrood would need to consent to the Tory Government’s Great Repeal Bill “converting” European legislation into UK law.

The make-up of the Edinburgh Parliament means that’s unlikely to happen and could set the Tory leader on a collision course with Nicola Sturgeon.

Replying to Glasgow South SNP MP Stewart McDonald, May said: “There is a possibility that a legislative consent motion may be required in the Scottish Parliament but that is a matter that is being considered currently between the Westminster Government and the Scottish Government.”

The legislative consent motion, or the Sewel Convention, says Westminster should not legislate on devolved matters without first gaining the approval of MSPs.

But it is ultimately still a convention and Westminster remains sovereign.

The Scottish Government may mount a legal challenge, but lawyers yesterday suggested there was little Holyrood could do to stop Westminster ignoring a defeated consent motion.

“If Westminster has to override a refusal of consent, that problem is political, not legal,” Professor James Chalmers, from the University of Glasgow tweeted.

The Prime Minister’s official spokesman said: “We would hope that everyone would get behind the will of the British people.”

The aim of the Repeal Bill – which was previously known as the Great Repeal Bill – is to convert the body of European legislation into UK law.

But the process of deciding which powers repatriated from Brussels should go to the devolved legislatures, and which should go the UK Government looks set to create constitutional chaos. The Scottish Government’s Brexit minister Mike Russell called for May to share the Repeal Bill with Scottish Ministers “as soon as possible”.

He said: “There can be absolutely no question of the UK Government attempting to reserve powers in devolved areas and the Scottish Government would not recommend the Scottish Parliament consents to such proposals.

“Where it is sensible or desirable to introduce a common UK framework to replace that provided by EU law, this must be achieved through agreement and negotiation.

“It is deeply concerning that the UK Government seems to intend that repatriated powers in devolved areas such as agriculture should go by default to Westminster, with no clear recognition of the need for the consent of the Scottish Parliament under the Sewel Convention for such changes. This is clearly unacceptable.”

The UK Government’s background paper on the Queen’s Speech said all EU-level powers that are not yet devolved in Whitehall immediately after Brexit would go to central government in a temporary, transitional arrangement “to provide certainty after exit and allow intensive discussion and consultation with the devolved administrations on where lasting common frameworks are needed”.

Ian Blackford, making his first appearance as the SNP’s new leader at Westminster during the debate, attacked May for not seeking consensus.

“Strong and stable is what the Prime Minister offered the country, but uncertain and unstable is what she has delivered,” he said. “There is nothing in the Queen’s Speech which changes that. That is most true in respect of the United Kingdom leaving the EU. A strong and stable approach might have involved the Prime Minister seeking consensus and working to protect the country from the most damaging potential impacts of a hard Brexit.”

Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn, who was given a rousing response by his backbenchers, attacked the “threadbare legislative programme from a Government that has lost its majority and apparently run out of ideas altogether”.

He pointed out the number of May’s manifesto commitments that hadn’t made it into her “thin” programme for government, including proposed changes to social care, the pensions triple lock, the winter fuel allowance, expanding grammar schools and revisiting the foxhunting ban.

May praised Corbyn’s “spirited” election campaign, saying he “came a good second, which was better than the pundits predicted and than many of his own MPs hoped for”.

She also welcomed Blackford to his position as the new leader of the SNP, before adding that she was “particularly pleased to welcome to the Conservative benches my 13 Scottish Conservative colleagues”.

“It is good that my right honourable friend the Secretary of State for Scotland [David Mundell] will not have to put up with any more jokes about pandas,” she added.

May said the Queen’s Speech was about “recognising and grasping the opportunities for every community in our country to benefit as we leave the European Union” and “delivering the will of the British people”.

Eight of the 27 Bills and draft Bills in the Queen’s Speech are dedicated to the process of exiting the EU and forming new domestic policy.

There is an Immigration Bill to end the free movement of EU citizens and impose controls on their immig- ration to Britain, and a Customs Bill, with the Government committed to leaving the EU’s tariff-free customs union so it is free to strike trade deals around the world.

May will be in Brussels today at a European Council meeting.