THE Brexit repeal bill does not respect either Scottish or Welsh devolution powers and both administrations will continue their work to try reverse the attempt to curb their powers, according to Mike Russell, the Scottish Government’s Minister for UK Negotiations on Scotland’s Place in Europe.
He was speaking after Scottish and Welsh ministers met in Cardiff to discuss their opposition to the bill, as the UK’s junior Brexit minister told an audience in Scotland it was in the interests of the devolved administrations to work with the UK Government on the legislation.
Following his meeting with Welsh Finance Secretary Mark Drakeford, Russell said: “Today’s meeting was another positive and useful opportunity to discuss some of the shared concerns both countries have around the UK’s exit from the European Union.
“The European Union (Withdrawal) Bill, as it stands, does not respect the devolution powers of either the Scottish Parliament or the National Assembly for Wales or fulfil promises made by the UK Government. “We have agreed that we can’t back the bill as it stands and will continue to work together to reverse the attempt to take powers from Scottish Parliament and National Assembly for Wales.
“We will continue to press the UK Government that they enter into negotiations with both devolved administrations on the bill on the basis that we are equal partners on an issue that will have a hugely significant impact on the future of our economy and society.”
The legislation is designed to transpose EU law into British law so the same rules apply on the day of Brexit as the day before – EU responsibilities in devolved areas will initially be transferred to Westminster.
According to the UK Government, this will allow common frameworks to be created ahead of further devolution.
However, the Scottish and Welsh governments have said it amounts to a power grab and must be amended to give certainty to businesses, citizens and to protect devolution.
Junior Brexit Minister Robin Walker, meanwhile, said the bill would increase the power of the devolved administrations, and having some common frameworks on devolved matters was required for EU negotiations for market access to the EU and to preserve the single market within the UK.
Speaking on a visit to Edinburgh, he said: “There does need to be a recognition in this process there are going to be areas where we are going to need to agree on common frameworks and that that is important not only in terms of the domestic functioning of our economy, but in also in terms of our market access to the EU.
“So, that being a key objective of the Scottish Government as they have set out in Scotland’s Place in Europe, we would hope that they could engage constructively on that front as well.
“There are no powers which currently sit that will be taken away from them but we’ve also been very clear that our overall strategy is to increase the power of each of the devolved administrations through this process.”
Walker will discuss Brexit with the financial sector, farmers, the life sciences industry and oil and gas sector as he visits Aberdeen, Edinburgh, Fife and Dundee University on a two-day visit to Scotland, but will not meet with the Scottish Government.
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