THE Scottish Parliament is refusing consent for the UK's Brexit power grab – but the BBC's take on whether it matters to Scots left many bewildered.
You can read our full story on the power grab debate here, but as a reminder, key figures in the devolution debate, including former first minister Henry McLeish, have slammed the UK's Bill. Labour, the LibDems and the Greens are all backing the SNP to reject it.
The BBC published an explainer on the consequences of the Scottish Parliament refusing consent for the legislation.
The report was useful in places, but went on to say: "Nicola Sturgeon rarely shies away from a fight with Westminster. It's generally good politics for her to say she is 'standing up for Scotland' against ministers in London."
It added: "Her problem is that this argument has not caught voters' attention. The right of the Scottish Parliament to have a definitive say over regulations governing the use of pesticides does not appear to cause great concern to Scots."
This seems quite hard to believe – we know that the phenomenal All Under One Banner indy march is the most recent in our memories, but the Hands Off Our Parliament protest in defence of the Scottish Parliament was a huge show of support too.
And users on social media made their anger clear.
1.
Condescending, patronising. We dont need your “explanation”
— Stephen Dedalus 🏴🇮🇪🇪🇺🇫🇷 (@StFilansDream) May 15, 2018
2.
To those who know? A lot. Unfortunately there’s been a shameful & disappointing abdication of responsibility by the media to explain what the ‘power grab’ is & its ramifications. Doing that job left to ppl like me to spend their time and money to try to plug that knowledge gap. pic.twitter.com/93BHZTNwf1
— Colin Dunn (@Zarkwan) May 15, 2018
3.
Apparently it doesn't matter much if the UK Parliament ignores the Sewel Convention 😬.
— Aileen McHarg (@AileenMcHarg) May 15, 2018
BTW, Sarah, your analogy with Theresa May's reaction to Holyrood's vote in favour of a second referendum last year is entirely misplaced. https://t.co/l6P2MVZ6lB
4.
If it hasn't caught voters' attention that will be because it has been massive played down by people like you. I'm constantly astonished by how Scottish matters are presented to viewers/readers in Scotland by supposedly Scottish media outlets. Shameful really.
— olwen mcg (@olwenmcg) May 15, 2018
5.
You are saying this important issue has not caught the attention of people in Scotland. What an utterly disingenuous statement. I assure you that we are paying attention, and we know who to blame for glossing it over.
— Wendy Wood (@MissWendyWood) May 15, 2018
6.
You dismiss it as an argument about pesticide standards, but it it is much more than that. Food standards and labelling regulations are crucial to Scotland's multi-billion pound food and drinks industry. I don't trust UKgov not to sell that out for a trade deal with Trump.
— CJ (@Abrachyrhynchus) May 15, 2018
7.
With the greatest of respect, it would annoy voters if the situation was explained to them by @BBCScotlandNews and others. If you tell people that people aren’t bothered, guess what? You have a duty to inform, not tell us what we think!
— Stephen Shilton (@StephenShilton) May 15, 2018
8.
Well, it has cut through to me, and with absolutely no help from you and your BBC colleagues #HandsoffourParliament
— Chookie Balformo (@gapdouglas) May 15, 2018
9.
It’s very easy for something not to catch people’s attention if it is constantly downplayed, ignored & misrepresented by MSM, Sarah. How often did I see power grab of existing powers termed SNP wanting NEW powers by BBC in recent months?
— Child of Alba 🏴 (@ChildOfAlba) May 15, 2018
10.
How can you be sure this hasn't caught the voters' attention? Is there any evidence for that?
— weebirdie (@mclaverock) May 15, 2018
11.
how much does any constitutional crisis matter? not at all if you listen to the BBC because you wouldn't know anything about it
— K Carington Smith (@0ctavia) May 15, 2018
Brexit is an existential threat to Scotland, devolution and the Scottish Parliament, of course this matters enormously https://t.co/IWI61qwpe7
12.
This article is disgraceful in several ways, but particularly for its propagandistic rewriting of history. Theresa May did not get away with saying "no" to #ScotRef - Nicola Sturgeon *chose* to delay the request, but the issue is coming back. https://t.co/SEAVdztE9q
— James Kelly (@JamesKelly) May 15, 2018
It seems to us that Scots do in fact care about a blatant attempt to steal powers from our Parliament, against our wishes...
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