THERE has never been any shortage of rhetoric around the EU Withdrawal Bill. The UK Government used to call it the Great Repeal Bill, the suggestion being that the legislation, which will ensure EU law no longer applies in the UK, represents a revolution, an unshackling of the chains – a great act of freedom.
The Scottish Government on the other hand takes a different view and has not gone easy on the rhetoric either. The Withdrawal Bill, it says, is a direct threat to devolution and represents the biggest power grab Scotland’s Parliament has faced since it was established in 1999. Those are the two interpretations: the EU Withdrawal Bill is an act of freedom or a direct threat to it.
On the face of it, the two positions look incompatible and are due to come to a head in the Commons today. Amendments seeking to change the bill’s impact on devolution will be proposed and debated, with Mike Russell, Scotland’s Brexit Secretary, saying the Scottish Government cannot accept the bill as it stands. Mr Russell says the bill will undermine devolution by transferring all powers exercised at EU level, including those in devolved areas such as farming and the environment, to Westminster. The Scottish Government’s view is that those powers belong at Holyrood.
However, there is a certain logic to the bill as it stands - the member state leaving the EU is the UK, not Scotland, which means that the UK would be the first port of call for any powers returning from Brussels. Behind the rhetoric, there is also a fair measure of agreement between the two sides: both the UK and Scottish Governments agree that some of the returning powers should be exercised UK-wide to maintain the UK internal market.
Talks on agreeing the framework and how it will work have also been ongoing since the summer and the hope must be that realism and compromise will still lead to a successful outcome. In private, both sides appear to be willing to get on with things and there is a precedent for progress: the SNP and the Conservatives managed to haggle their way through the Smith Commission on greater devolution; they must now do the same with the EU Withdrawal Bill.
Regardless of how that is achieved, the aim of the finished bill must be that, the day after Brexit, the powers in devolved areas are back with the Scottish Parliament and there is an agreement from both sides on where sharing with the UK Government is required.
In private, even if the Withdrawal Bill is passed in its current form and the SNP votes against it, both sides recognise that agreement must, in the end, be reached, even though in public, the Scottish Government is threatening to bring about a new constitutional crisis by rejecting the bill.
It might look like the two Governments are drawing lines in the sand, but they are really drawing temporary positions. The private talks must provide a route through the public mess and fury.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules here