UK and Scottish ministers set to have Brexit devolution talks

Damian Green will have talks with Deputy First Minister John Swinney and Scotland's Brexit Minister Michael Russell in Edinburgh.

Ahead of the meeting, the First Secretary said that the Government expects there will be “significant increase in the decision-making power of each devolved administration”.

The Scottish Government has previously threatened to block the Great Repeal Bill amid claims UK ministers are mounting a "power grab' on Holyrood.

Mr Russell said ahead of today’s talks that the Bill represents "a fundamental attack on the principles of devolution".

He said: "The bill - as it currently stands - means that Westminster would take exclusive control over significant areas of devolved policy, such as support for Scotland's farmers and food producers and many aspects of environmental protection and control of our seas.

"We know that the UK government has its eye on more than 100 policy areas. That is a direct threat to the devolution settlement which the people of Scotland overwhelmingly voted for in 1997.

"Both we and the Welsh government have made it clear we could not recommend legislative consent to the bill as it stands, and today we will make clear that changes must be made to protect devolution."

Mr Green said: "There will be other areas where I intend that the Scottish and UK governments can make progress in identifying policy areas that could be released to Holyrood under the new legislative arrangements.

"We expect there will be a significant increase in the decision-making power of each devolved administration and we want to address this in a way which delivers certainty and continuity for people and businesses across the UK."

Related

Trade Department Would Not “Hesitate” To Revoke Arms Licences To Israel

By Tom Scotson

11 Apr

PoliticsHome Newsletters

PoliticsHome provides the most comprehensive coverage of UK politics anywhere on the web, offering high quality original reporting and analysis: Subscribe