Theresa May makes clear 'divisive Nationalists' in Holyrood will not have veto over Brexit deal

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But Michael Russell, the Scottish Government’s minister liaising with Whitehall over Brexit, signalled that the consent of MSPs would be needed to put through what the Prime Minister has termed the Great Repeal Bill.

That Bill will remove the 1972 European Communities Act from the Statute Book but Mr Russell suggested Holyrood would vote against it.

As Mrs May announced that the triggering of Article 50 would begin before the end of March she also made clear that the UK would strike a deal with its EU partners as an “independent sovereign” country.

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During a Brexit debate on the opening day of the Tory conference in Birmingham, the PM insisted voters gave their decision in the EU referendum with emphatic clarity and it was not for the Government to quibble or backslide but to “get on with the job”.

She referred to the legal action in the High Court due next week, which will attempt to force a Commons vote on the UK Government’s Brexit proposals; an action Nicola Sturgeon has made clear the SNP Government is keeping a “close eye on” and which the First Minister feels will probably end up in a constitutional wrangle at the UK Supreme Court.

Mrs May told conference: “Those people who argue that Article 50 can only be triggered after agreement in both Houses of Parliament are not standing up for democracy, they’re trying to subvert it.

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“They’re not trying to get Brexit right, they’re trying to kill it by delaying it. They are insulting the intelligence of the British people. That is why, next week, I can tell you that the Attorney General himself, Jeremy Wright, will act for the Government and resist them in the courts.”

The PM went on: “Likewise, the negotiations between the United Kingdom and the European Union are the responsibility of the Government and nobody else.

“I have already said that we will consult and work with the devolved administrations for Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, because we want Brexit to work in the interests of the whole country. And we will do the same with business and municipal leaders across the land.

“But the job of negotiating our new relationship is the job of the Government. Because we voted in the referendum as one United Kingdom, we will negotiate as one United Kingdom, and we will leave the European Union as one United Kingdom.

“There is no opt-out from Brexit. And I will never allow divisive Nationalists to undermine the precious Union between the four nations of our United Kingdom,” declared the PM.

Shortly after the speech Ms Sturgeon tweeted: “PM going out of her way to say Scotland’s voice and interests don’t matter. Strange approach from someone who wants to keep UK together.”

Earlier, at a conference fringe Ruth Davidson, the Scottish Conservative leader, also stressed that while Holyrood would be consulted on Brexit, it could not block the process.

She said: “There is an acceptance this was a UK-wide vote. The UK is the member state. There is no veto for the devolved administrations in this.”

But Mr Russell said the Repeal bill would “require the approval of the Scottish Parliament; a legislative consent motion will be required”.

He went on: “So the Scottish Government, the Scottish Parliament has a formal role there. We need to make sure that we are in there discussing these matters, because on what we’re hearing so far, the matters of great importance, matters of free movement, a whole range of matters on education and environment, I am not hearing the sounds from London that make me think Scotland and Scotland’s vital interests are being protected.”

Mr Russell, who earlier urged Mrs May and her colleagues to put membership of the European single market “at the front of their negotiating plans,” was asked if the SNP would vote against the Repeal bill in the Scottish Parliament.

“Presently,” he replied, “there is a majority against that Repeal bill; that is absolutely obvious. We have had three votes in the Scottish Parliament in the last four weeks on European matters, all of them have been in favour of the single market and issues like that, and against what appears to be the current position of the hard Brexiteers, who are pushing Theresa May and trying to force her into their camp. So that, at the present moment, would appear to be the case.”