THERE was little progress in top-level Brexit talks between the Scottish and UK governments yesterday, with John Swinney insisting the Tory repeal bill was still little more than a “blatant power grab”.
The Deputy First Minister and Scotland’s Brexit minister Michael Russell met with Damian Green, effectively Theresa May’s number two, and Scottish Secretary David Mundell in London early yesterday morning, with the two sides going over the 111 powers Westminster has been accused of trying to grab.
Green, the First Secretary of State, said he left the talks “cautiously optimistic” while Swinney said the discussion had been “constructive.”
However, Swinney added that there was still a long way to go before the Scottish Government could ask MSPs to back the bill at Holyrood.
The European Union (Withdrawal) Bill is supposed to end the UK’s membership of the EU, and transfer all laws from Brussels into British law.
The clash between London, Edinburgh and Cardiff comes over the repatriation of these powers.
Whitehall wants everything to come to London first, with ministers then deciding which powers should be kept UK-wide and which should be devolved.
Both the Labour-led Welsh Government and the SNP-led Scottish Government say this goes against the very principle of devolution: that any powers which are not specifically reserved to Westminster should be devolved.
While they are not against UK-wide frameworks, they want them agreed jointly rather than Tory ministers in London deciding what gets sent to the devolved parliaments and what gets kept at Westminster.
Last week Scottish and Welsh ministers jointly put forward a series of changes they want to see made to bill.
They warned the Tories that if these are not made, they cannot ask their respective parliaments to give legislative consent.
While the UK Government needs to ask for consent for the bill, it doesn’t need to obtain it, and can overrule the two parliaments.
Speaking after the meeting, Green said: “I am cautiously optimistic that we will be able to agree a way forward.”
“I said that it was time for the talks to get serious and today they have got serious.
‘We had a positive and constructive meeting and we are now starting to get into the nitty gritty of the detail of how we make sure Brexit works for all parts of the UK.”
He added: “We are in agreement that we do not want to damage the UK internal market that is so important to Scottish businesses and their customers.
“The key point is that we want to bring back these powers from the EU in a way that protects the UK market and also preserves the spirit and letter of the devolution settlement.”
Swinney added: “The discussions were constructive but we remain absolutely clear that, as things stand, we will not recommend to the Scottish Parliament that it gives its consent to the EU Withdrawal Bill.
“We made clear we are not opposed in principle to UK-wide frameworks in certain areas – but this must be on the basis of agreement among equals, not imposed by Westminster.
“The Bill as currently drafted is impractical and unworkable. It is a blatant power grab which would take existing competence over a wide range of devolved policy areas – including aspects of topics like agriculture and fishing – away from Holyrood, giving them instead to Westminster and Whitehall.
“That means that unless there are serious and significant changes to the proposed legislation, we will not recommend that the Scottish Parliament give consent to the bill.”
He added: “UK Ministers should be in no doubt – to override a vote of the Scottish Parliament and impose the EU Withdrawal Bill on Scotland would be an extraordinary and unprecedented step to take.”
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