A cross party Holyrood committee has recommended rejecting a key part of the Westminster Brexit law unless there is a “political solution” to a dispute over its content.
The SNP, Labour and Green MSPs on the Finance and Constitution committee said the parliament should withhold legislative consent for Clause 11 of the EU Withdrawal Bill.
Clause 11 deals with the way powers in devolved areas are redistributed once they are repatriated from Brussels at the point of Brexit next year.
The three Tory MSPs on the committee dissented.
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The UK government wants to temporarily reserve devolved powers in around 24 areas in order to create UK-wide frameworks to protect the internal market.
The Scottish Government says frameworks must be agreed by consent, not imposed.
However the UK says giving Holyrood the final say would amount to a veto over events in others parts of the UK, something unprecedented under devolution.
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With the two sides deadlocked, MSPs are due to vote on whether to give legislative consent to the EU Withdrawal Bill next Tuesday.
If they refuse, it will take the devolution settlement into uncharted territory and could lead to Westminster imposing the Withdrawal Bill on Scotland against Holyrood’s wishes.
The Committee said the disagreement over Clause 11 and its connected Schedule 3 can be resolved through “mutual trust and respect”, with reciprocal political commitments used to establish parity between the UK and Scottish governments.
The committee said that would mean that Clause 11 would not be needed to enable the future agreement of common frameworks.
Committee convener Bruce Crawford said: “There is scope for a reasonable solution to be found. If there is parity and both governments are treated equally, and both are bound by political agreement, then this can be amicably resolved.
“The Secretary of State for Scotland said he trusted the Scottish Government, and I welcome that, but it is time for his trust to be put into practice.
“And for that reason, our Committee has reached the conclusion that Clause 11 and Schedule 3 of the EU (Withdrawal) Bill should be removed and for reciprocal political commitments to be included in the Inter-Governmental Agreement.”
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He added: “The Committee remains deeply concerned about the lack of any statutory provision within the Bill for UK Ministers to seek the consent of Scottish Ministers or the Scottish Parliament to legislate in devolved areas, especially given that the Sewel Convention does not apply to subordinate legislation. The Committee considers, as we stated in our interim report, that this cuts across the devolution settlement.”
Green MSP Patrick harvie said: “It’s a very positive sign that the whole Scottish Parliament is united on this issue, with the exception of the Tories, who have given up on our European future and now want MSPs to give up on protecting Scotland’s interests.
“The parties that campaigned together to create Scotland’s Parliament must now stand together against Theresa May and Ruth Davidson’s demolition squad.”
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