NICOLA Sturgeon and Welsh first minister Mark Drakeford have urged the EU to delay Brexit over worries of a new Westminster power grab.

In a joint letter, the SNP leader and Welsh Labour chief say it would be impossible for the parliaments in Edinburgh and Cardiff to fulfil their “constitutional responsibilities” if Boris Johnsons insists on taking the UK out of the EU in just nine days.

Last night, the leader of the House of Commons, Jacob Rees-Mogg, told MPs that the Government will try to pass the Withdrawal Agreement Bill – the key piece of Brexit legislation – through the Commons over the next three days.

Debate on the legislation could go on until midnight tonight and tomorrow, finishing on Thursday.

In their letter to Tusk, the two First Ministers said an extension would allow MSPs and assembly members “to adequately scrutinise agreement and the draft legislation in accordance with our constitutional responsibilities.”

They also said they would favour an extension which was “long enough to enable a referendum with remain on the ballot paper to be held in the UK.”

Sturgeon and Drakeford wrote: “A critical part of the legislative process on any Bill which affects devolved competences is that the Scottish Parliament and National Assembly for Wales are invited to provide legislative consent.

“This is clearly the case with the Withdrawal Agreement Bill. This obviously requires detailed analysis and scrutiny of what we understand will be a lengthy and complex piece of legislation which has only been sent to us in the last 24 hours.

“The concern that Parliament could not in any way undertake the scrutiny of the Bill in a 10-day period, as required in the absence of an extension, lay behind the decision of the House of Commons to withhold its approval of the Withdrawal Agreement ‘unless and until the implementing legislation is passed’.

“This is a concern we fully share. It is simply impossible for us to fulfil our constitutional responsibilities in this timescale, which is dictated by the way in which the Prime Minister delayed tabling formal proposals.”

The two also made the same request in a joint letter to the Prime Minister, saying that the legislatures “need time to analyse and consider the draft Bill.”

In May last year, MSPs supported a motion to deny consent to Theresa May’s EU Withdrawal Bill, by 93 votes to 30.

Despite that, the Bill became law a month later.

Johnson faced another setback in the Commons yesterday when Speaker John Bercow rebuffed the Government’s attempt to have a “meaningful vote” on his new Brexit deal.

The Prime Minister abandoned a vote on Saturday when the Commons, effectively, forced him into asking Brussels for a further Brexit delay.

Had MPs backed Johnson’s deal at a meaningful vote today then the Benn act would have been fulfilled and Johnson could have withdrawn his request for an extension.

Bercow said the motion put forward on Monday was the same in substance as the one already considered on Saturday by the Commons and that it would be “repetitive and disorderly” to look at it again.

Downing Street said the Government was “disappointed” with the Speaker’s ruling.

“We are disappointed that the Speaker has yet again denied us the chance to deliver on the will of the British people,” a spokesman said.

The Government published its Withdrawal Agreement Bill late last night and the second reading debate, and the first vote on Johnson’s Brexit deal will take place today.

Opposition MPs will try and amend the legislation, with the SNP calling for an early General Election, and Labour looking to keep the UK in a customs union with the EU.

Meanwhile, in a committee hearing yesterday, Steve Barclay, the Brexit secretary was forced to admit that despite initially saying they wouldn’t, the current deal meant businesses would need to complete export declarations for goods moving from Northern Ireland to the rest of the UK.