HOLYROOD has been urged to withhold consent to the UK Government's so-called Brexit freedoms bill.
The plans to scrap at least 2,400 laws carried over from the UK’s 47-year membership of the EU have proved controversial.
Civil servants have suggested it could take six years to go through all the European legislation on the statute books.
But the government’s self-imposed sunset clause means that ministers have until the end of next year to discard or replace each and every regulation.
That has sparked fears that crucial laws around environmental protection and workplace rights could end up being ditched entirely.
READ MORE: RSPB asks Alister Jack to help scrap EU Retained Law Bill
In a letter to Grant Shapps, the Secretary of State at the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, Angus Robertson urged him to accept amendments to the legislation drafted by the Scottish Government.
The external affairs minister said the Bill undermines devolution as it allows UK ministers to “act in policy areas” that are the responsibility of the government in Edinburgh.
Mr Robertson said that “to do so without the consent of Scottish Ministers or the Scottish Parliament is in direct contradiction to the intent of the devolved settlement.”
He said the “speed at which the legislation is being pursued is also nothing short of reckless,” and that the sunsetting “carries an unacceptable risk that vital law, on which the smooth functioning of sectors of the economy and society depends, simply drops off the UK statute book.”
The minister suggests the Bill - which is currently at the committee stage in Westminster - should be amended “so that it does not apply to devolved matters in Scotland.”
Mr Robertson claims that in a meeting less than two months ago the former BEIS minister, Jacob Rees-Mogg offered to give Scottish ministers the power to defer the sunsetting in relation to devolved matters by three years.
However, “this was subsequently rescinded.”
Mr Robertson goes on to say that the Scottish Government also has “serious concerns” regarding “concurrent powers” - where both Holyrood and Westminster have legislative responsibility.
In the letter, he asked that any powers conferred on UK Ministers in areas of devolved competence “be subject to a statutory requirement for consent from devolved ministers.”
Mr Robertson also warned that the Bill “risks the Scottish Parliament and government being consumed with unnecessary work to save important legislative provisions from being lost, when it should be acting to address pressing issues such as the cost-of-living and energy crisis, judged by real priorities.”
The letter comes as a new report reveals researchers at the National Archives have found another 1,400 pieces of EU law on top of the 2,400 already known about.
BEIS has been approached for comment.
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