BREXIT: MPs call for urgent action on 'devolution stalemate'

In a new report, the Scottish Affairs committee in the House of Commons said the UK government needed to agree swiftly with the Scottish government which powers being repatriated from Brussels will be subject to common UK frameworks, and which will be devolved directly to the Scottish parliament.

The committee's report, published ahead of the Commons' consideration of the European Union (Withdrawal) Bill, said discussions between the UK and Scotland should be based on the premise that all powers should be devolved, unless there was good reason to reserve them. The committee said the discussions needed to be held before the third reading of the legislation.

It also said that “UK-wide common frameworks in currently devolved policy areas should be reached by agreement between the UK government and the governments of Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, where relevant, and not imposed by Westminster”.

The committee further recommended that UK ministers seek the consent of Scottish ministers before exercising delegated powers in devolved areas of responsibility, rather than merely consult with the Scottish government.

Brexit expert Guy Lougher of Pinsent Masons, the law firm behind Out-Law.com, said the report demonstrated the importance of an often overlooked aspect of the negotiations over the withdrawal from the UK.

“The devolution considerations are another important aspect of Brexit, but which have to date received less attention than others," Lougher said. "That doesn’t however mean that they have gone away.”   

“One important angle will be the extent to which EU rights repatriated into UK law as a result of the EU Withdrawal Bill remain in Westminster or are shared with the devolved administrations,” he said.

The Scottish government has expressed concern about the Brexit process and its impact on the devolved nations on several occasions. In July the minister for negotiations on Scotland’s place in Europe, Michael Russell, said the Withdrawal Bill imposed new restrictions on Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, as it empowered UK ministers to make changes in devolved policy areas without any involvement of the devolved governments.

In January the UK Supreme Court ruled that the UK government did not have to consult the devolved administrations before triggering the mechanism which began the withdrawal process, Article 50 of the Treaty on the EU.