HOLYROOD’S famous 'family friendly' hours are to be scrapped as MSPs wrestle with the massively increased workload caused by Brexit, it has emerged.
The parliament is to redraw its working week from the autumn, with sittings in the evenings as committees in particular are inundated with more work.
A newly released paper for the body overseeing Holyrood’s timetable, the parliamentary bureau, says Brexit will be “multi-layered, complex and present challenging deadlines”.
Until now, MSPs have generally worked on constituent business on Mondays and Fridays, with parliament ending around 5pm between Tuesday and Thursday.
Tuesday and Wednesday sittings until 8pm are now seen as likely.
The extra workload for MSPs will be mirrored in longer hours for Holyrood staff, and the cost of running the parliament is due to rise, potentially by more than £2m a year.
Although the bulk of Brexit legislation will go through the Commons and Lords, the devolved administrations are also expected to play an integral role in the handling of EU withdrawal.
The bureau paper says Holyrood will scrutinise Brexit talks, legislative consent motions (LCMs) relating to Westminster laws, and a forest of EU-related secondary legislation.
The number of minor Scottish statutory instruments which will need revised in light of Brexit is expected to run into the “hundreds”, according to the paper.
“The overall impact of these extra scrutiny demands should not be underestimated,” the paper says, warning that “capacity” issues may put a strain on the current system.
Parliament bosses intend to institute a triage system for legislation, deciding what must be processed immediately, what can be delayed, and what can be parked longer term.
The first LCM is expected by the end of the year in relation to the key Repeal Bill needed to transpose EU law into UK law ahead of Brexit.
Because the Bill will change Holyrood’s powers, it triggers the Sewel Convention which says Holyrood’s approval would normally be needed before Westminster can pass the Bill.
The Supreme Court last year ruled this did not amount to a veto.
However MSPs could delay or refused to pass LCMs, leading to a constitutional crisis.
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