THE UK Government cannot gain legislative consent on the EU Withdrawal Bill unless it provides an amendment to protect devolved powers.

That’s the view of the Mike Russell, who also said that UK Scottish Secretary David Mundell’s position would come into question should the UK Government fail to deliver such an amendment.

It relates to clause 11 of the Bill which appears to contradict the Scotland Act when it comes to whether or not devolved powers can be modified by the UK Government.

Speaking on the Sunday Politics programme, the Brexit Secretary said that restoring powers that are devolved unless they are reserved is not just the view of the Scottish Government, it is the view of the Scottish Parliament – whose constitution committee unanimously took that view in a report earlier this week – as well as that the Welsh Government, a “substantial” number of organisations in Scotland, and the Scottish Conservatives.

“What has to happen to get legislative consent is very simple: The UK Government have to amend the Bill,” said Russell.

“They have to amend particularly clause 11, there are other parts too, but particularly clause 11 and remove the difficulties that clause contains. There is no other way for this Bill to gain legislative consent.

“We have been promised that. David Mundell promised it last year, Damian Green when he was in office and chairing the Joint Ministerial Committee promised it, and it hasn’t happened. And that is a problem. And they really have to make sure it happens because without that there is no approval.

He added: “I was speaking at a conference in Ireland recently alongside my Welsh counterpart and we both made it crystal clear from the platform: without those amendments there is no legislative consent from either Wales or Scotland and that creates a situation with the House of Lords, who will have to decide whether they can pass a bill that doesn’t have legislative consent.”

Russell also said that Scottish Secretary David Mundell’s position would come into question should the UK Government not deliver an amendment that the Scottish Government can support.

The Scottish Brexit Secretary said that for now Mundell will “have to continue to steer this forward but so far he hasn’t steered it very far”. He added that he was disappointed that the decision on the amendment would now be taken in the House of Lords, given that the they are unelected and because the SNP has no representation there.

Russell also reiterated the Scottish Government position that any Brexit would be bad for the country, but at the very least the UK should be aiming to stay within the single market and customs union as anything else would be “very, very problematic indeed”.

Scottish Conservatives constitution spokesman Adam Tompkins defended Mundell’s position, describing what happened this week as a “deeply frustrating and disappointing delay”.

“There’s no change of direction or change of policy on the British government’s part,” he said.

“It’s the British government’s commitment to amend the relevant provisions of the European Union Withdrawal Bill. We had hoped to do that in the House of Commons, for various reasons, including the reasons connected with Damian Green’s resignation just before Christmas, it’s turned out not to be possible to do that.

“We’re still committed to doing it, we just have to do it in the House of Lords rather than the House of Commons.”