ANIMAL health and welfare, food safety, GM crops and green energy storage are among the broad ranging list of 24 devolved areas published by the Conservative Government today where it wants to exercise an effective veto post Brexit.

Ministers in London want to oversea these areas until UK-wide frameworks are established in a move which would mean the UK Government would have the power to overturn Scottish laws – for instance its existing ban on growing GM crops.

READ: UK Government document that reveals details of its Brexit power grab on Scotland

But it is feared the move could also lead to the import and sale of chlorinated chicken, which is banned in Scotland by EU laws.

This is because the law may be overturned if the UK Government kept powers over animal welfare post Brexit – even temporarily – and reduced standards allowing poultry farmers to cram the animals together, risking infection and requiring them to be washed in chlorine to get rid of viruses which could be passed to humans.

The US currently allows the sale of chicken raised and processed in this manner and campaigners fear the UK may lower animal welfare standards in a bid to get a trade deal with Donald Trump's administration.

Responding to the publication, Holyrood's Brexit minister Mike Russell said: "This list simply confirms the UK Government's plans for a power grab.

"Under the EU Withdrawal Bill the UK will have the right to take control of any of the powers on this list.

"However, the publication of the categories demonstrates the threat is most immediate in key devolved areas such as agriculture, GM crops, fishing, environmental policy, public procurement, food standards and a range of other areas.

"Unless the Bill is changed Westminster could soon be in control of these policies amounting to a major power grab and a re-writing of the devolution settlement the people of Scotland voted for so decisively."

He added: "I am also alarmed to see some powers included in a further category, which the UK Government says are reserved and would therefore in their view not even require consultation with the Scottish Government.

"These include Geographical Food Indicators – vital for key Scottish industries – and State Aid which has a role in supporting our economy. We do not agree, for example, that all of State Aid is reserved.

“For the Scottish Government there is a clear principle at stake – what happens to any devolved power must be a matter for the Scottish Parliament. The Parliament may decide that in some devolved policy areas it makes sense to have UK-wide frameworks, but this must be a matter for Holyrood, not the UK Government."

Russell said the Scottish Government was not opposed to working together on joint frameworks in some of these areas but wanted assurances that it must be able to agree to them and not have them imposed without consent.

"We have been given no assurances on how frameworks will operate, who makes the decisions about them and how we would be able to ensure Scotland’s interests are properly protected," he said.

Both the Scottish and Welsh governments have produced plans for continuity bills as a fall back option to deal with legal uncertainties caused by Brexit if they cannot agree to consent to the UK Government's EU Withdrawal Bill.

Ministers at Westminster insist that "the vast majority of powers returning from Brussels will start off in Edinburgh, Cardiff and Belfast" and the powers under contention would only be temporarily kept at Westminster until the UK frameworks were established.

Cabinet Office Minister David Lidington said: "This is cast iron evidence that the EU Withdrawal Bill will deliver significant brand new powers for the devolved governments in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. The list we have published today shows how many EU powers that were controlled by Brussels, will, after Brexit, be controlled by the parliaments and assemblies in Edinburgh, Cardiff and Belfast.

“The vast majority of these new powers will be in the control of the devolved administrations on the day we leave the EU. There is a much smaller group of powers where the devolved governments will be required to follow current EU laws for a little bit longer while we work out a new UK approach.

“We are discussing with the devolved governments how this process will work but, as the UK Government, we feel very strongly that we must have the ability to take action to protect the UK internal market which represents a huge investment to everyone in the UK.

“We are publishing this material today because this can no longer just be a conversation between governments this process has to be open and transparent. These issues are of central importance to Parliament and the devolved legislatures, as well as businesses and wider stakeholders whose day to day activities will be affected by these decisions."

First Ministers Nicola Sturgeon and Carwyn Jones are due to hold talks with the prime minister next week.