Scottish, Welsh government heads aim to stop 'blatant power grab' after Brexit

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Scottish, Welsh government heads aim to stop 'blatant power grab' after Brexit

 

Scotland's First Minister Nicola Sturgeon visits St Andrew's and St Bride's High School to launch the expansion of the First Minister's Reading Challenge to secondary school pupils in East Kilbride, Scotland, Britain August 21, 2017. REUTERS/Andrew Milligan/Pool

 

EDINBURGH (Reuters) - The head of devolved governments in Scotland and Wales will meet on Tuesday to try to set a common strategy to protect parliamentary powers which they say are under threat from Britain's plan to leave the European Union.

 

Wales and Scotland plan to reject legislation which severs Britain's legal ties with the European Union, once known as the Great Repeal Bill, when it is brought before the devolved chambers in Cardiff and Edinburgh.

 

That rebuff would not represent a veto in the Brexit process. However, it would worsen Britain's constitutional tensions by forcing the UK government to fly in the face of democratic convention and ignore the expressed wish of the devolved bodies, which decide on most domestic policies such as health and education.

 

"The Scottish government is doing all we can to prevent an extreme Brexit, keep the UK in the (European) single market and protect devolution," Scotland's First Minister Nicola Sturgeon said ahead of the meeting with Welsh counterpart Carwyn Jones.

 

Jones described the Brexit legislation as "quite simply a blatant power grab".

 

Last year's Brexit vote has heightened strains among the United Kingdom's four constituent nations because England and Wales voted to leave, Scotland and Northern Ireland to remain.

 

"As it stands, it is inconceivable that we would recommend that the Scottish parliament gives its consent to the legislation," Sturgeon said in a statement.

 

The Scottish and Welsh governments argue that returning powers now exercised by the EU to the UK government will imply restrictions on the power of Scottish and Welsh chambers.

 

However, Britain's Scotland Minister, David Mundell, has said that the repeal will be a "transitional" arrangement, and it will ultimately result in a boost in devolved parliamentary power.

 

"We have said repeatedly that we are willing to talk constructively with the UK government on future arrangements. But this has to be on the basis of agreement and partnership, not imposition."

 

In July, a report from a committee of lawmakers in Britain's upper house said Brexit was a fundamental challenge to the future of the UK, and called on the government to set aside party politics and adjust its Brexit approach.

 

(Reporting by Elisabeth O'Leary; Editing by Toby Chopra)

 

-- © Copyright Reuters 2017-08-22

[Rancid]

So Scotland and Wales demand to be ruled by unelected Brussels bureaucrats even though the UK will not be a part of the EU?

[rockingrobin]

10 minutes ago, Rancid said:

So Scotland and Wales demand to be ruled by unelected Brussels bureaucrats even though the UK will not be a part of the EU?

No

At present some of the devolved powers are governed by impositions of EU law. After Brexit these will not apply, and thus the devolved governments will be able to apply measures unrestricted , which could lead to a fracture of the UK single market. To prevent this westminister has to repatriate some powers back from the devolved assemblies

[Baerboxer]

10 hours ago, Rancid said:

So Scotland and Wales demand to be ruled by unelected Brussels bureaucrats even though the UK will not be a part of the EU?

 

The Scottish First Minister simply wants to breakaway from the UK - at any cost, for any reason and with any consequences. Read some of her rhetoric. She seems to believe it's her destiny to be recorded in history as the liberator of Scotland. The fact that most Scots made it clear they don't currently want another referendum and both the Tories and Labor are gaining escapes her.

 

The Welsh assembly leader is marginally more mentally impaired. She tweeted a comment asking if the recent terrorist attacks in Barcelona and Catalan were "right wing terrorists"? And she refuses to retract that statement. Plaid Cymru is the main reason why Corbyn and Labor are doing so well in Wales now!

[Grouse]

Westminster have shown time and time again that they view the devolved regions with contempt.

 

Just maybe they have fewer numpties per m2 than England?

 

Anyway, best to accommodate everyone's views and not fall victim to the tyranny of the majority.

[lungbing]

I'll consider her point of view when the English get their own parliament and devolved powers.

[onthesoi]

6 minutes ago, lungbing said:

I'll consider her point of view when the English get their own parliament and devolved powers.

They have it in spades already, it's called westminster.

[blazes]

10 hours ago, Baerboxer said:

 

The Scottish First Minister simply wants to breakaway from the UK - at any cost, for any reason and with any consequences. Read some of her rhetoric. She seems to believe it's her destiny to be recorded in history as the liberator of Scotland. The fact that most Scots made it clear they don't currently want another referendum and both the Tories and Labor are gaining escapes her.

 

The Welsh assembly leader is marginally more mentally impaired. She tweeted a comment asking if the recent terrorist attacks in Barcelona and Catalan were "right wing terrorists"? And she refuses to retract that statement. Plaid Cymru is the main reason why Corbyn and Labor are doing so well in Wales now!

The leader of Plaid Cymru is not the leader of the Welsh Assembly (the leader's name, Carwyn Jones, was mentioned in the article)

 

Wales voted 52% to leave, so it would not do Labour or Plaid Cymru much good to fk around with that.  

[RuamRudy]

11 hours ago, lungbing said:

I'll consider her point of view when the English get their own parliament and devolved powers.

Then ask for one - it is not the fault of the Scots that you don't have a devolved administration.

[RuamRudy]

13 hours ago, Baerboxer said:

The Scottish First Minister simply wants to breakaway from the UK - at any cost, for any reason and with any consequences.

Much like the brexiters - with the exception that there is a credible vision for an independent Scotland, and that the desire for independence is based upon an inclusive, internationalist vision of a better Scotland, rather than the isolationist last gasp of those who seek to breathe life back into the long dead empire and a rapidly declining UK.

 

14 hours ago, Baerboxer said:

Read some of her rhetoric. She seems to believe it's her destiny to be recorded in history as the liberator of Scotland. The fact that most Scots made it clear they don't currently want another referendum

This is where is gets a bit awkward - you see, most Scots made it clear that they want to remain in the EU. Should they be ignored?

 

14 hours ago, Baerboxer said:

both the Tories and Labor are gaining escapes her.

I have not seen any polls recently which back this up - can you cite any? Surely the fact that there are more SNP mps than the other parties together suggests that the weight of opinion resides with us saboteurs? 

[Stargeezr]

The big Egos of some politicians tend to end their rules. I hope the Scotland leader remembers this or she may face the same result. One politician in Alberta Canada ended his career by forgetting who pays his wages and his perks.

Geezer

[RuamRudy]

1 minute ago, Stargrazer9889 said:

The big Egos of some politicians tend to end their rules. I hope the Scotland leader remembers this

or she may face the same result. One politician in Alberta Canada ended his career by forgetting who

pays his wages and his perks.

Geezer

She is the elected leader of the Scottish Parliament, doing her day job - standing up for the best interests of the Scottish people. I appreciate that there are those who object to a forthright, confident Scot (and a woman at that) taking a position that is not aligned with the UK, but she is standing up for her party's manifesto pledges, but she has a clear mandate to fight to deliver on those pledges. 

[RuamRudy]

So there we have it - parliamentary democracy in the UK is no longer a thing, as our minority government, backed by their creationist loving, terrorist supporting lackeys, force through a bill that allows them to make any changes to UK law they wish without the bothersome need to run it past parliament, in a move described as being the biggest power grab since Henry VIII. 

 

Well done Brexiters - all your talk about the lack of accountability in the EU has given us exactly that: a government fully without a mandate but with full power to do as it chooses, and we have seen for decades that the Nasty Party only chooses to help themselves and their rich friends.