THE UK Government is not respecting Holyrood and undermining devolution, the Constitution Secretary has said, as MSPs voted to withhold consent for amendments made to the EU Retained Law Bill.
Angus Robertson told the Scottish Parliament on Thursday afternoon that Scottish ministers were given less than eight working hours to consider amendments to the wide-sweeping bill, sometimes dubbed the Brexit Freedoms Bill.
The far-reaching legislation will have major implications for welfare protections, environmental and food standards in Scotland, alongside the devolution settlement, he added.
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It comes after Prime Minister Rishi Sunak ditched a key promise made during his leadership campaign to get rid of remaining EU-era laws by the end of the year.
However, Business Secretary Kemi Badenoch announced in May that around 600 laws would be revoked under their planned legislation rather than the 4000 pledged.
Opening the debate on Thursday afternoon, Constitution Secretary Angus Robertson said that Westminster has ignored the views of Scotland on nine occasions since 2019.
The Scottish Government published a report in January outlining the risks it believes the legislation poses, ranging from environmental laws to the impact on workers' rights.
MSPs previously voted by 84 votes to 29 to reject the Retained EU Law Bill and call on the UK Government to scrap it entirely.
“This continues an alarming pattern where the UK Government asks the Scottish Government and MSPs for permission to pass laws in devolved policy areas with no intention of acting on, or even listening to, the views of the Scottish Parliament,” Robertson said.
“It is a further example of UK Ministers’ growing control over Scotland and demonstrates the UK Government will legislate in devolved matters whenever it wants.
“In this instance I received a letter from the UK Government on the afternoon of Friday 19 May seeking consent.
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“Less than eight working hours later, on Monday 22 May, the Lords Bill Minister, Lord Callanan, said that the UK Government intended to proceed with the Bill without the consent of the Scottish Parliament and Welsh Senedd.
“Clearly, any acknowledgement of due parliamentary process in respect of devolution is only for show.
“As well as the risk to devolution, the risks of divergence from the high standards the people – and businesses – of Scotland experienced and benefitted from when the UK was an EU member state, are a key concern and therefore this reckless bill should be withdrawn.”
The motion stated that the amendments to the legislation “do nothing to alter the view” expressed by MSPs on November 29 2022, when they called for the bill to be withdrawn completely.
“It is not acceptable that seeking the views of this Parliament on devolved matters is optional, or for those views to be ignored,” Robertson told the chamber.
Elsewhere, the Scottish Greens pointed out that the legislation will have a devastating impact on Scotland’s air quality, after Environmental Standards Scotland warned that it would leave Scotland without any national programme on long-term air quality targets.
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Speaking after the debate, environment spokesperson Mark Ruskell said: “The so-called Brexit freedoms bill is a polluters charter. It will remove protections that we have enjoyed for years and could have a devastating impact on our air quality.
“These are laws that the UK helped to write, and now the Tories are proposing to remove them in a pointless act of self-sabotage. Once again the UK government is showing contempt for our democracy and our environment.”
MSPs voted by 79 to 27 to withhold the Scottish Parliament’s consent for the Bill.
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