Harvie raises Westminster power grab concerns at First Minister's Questions
Green co-convener Patrick Harvie today used First Minister’s Questions to raise concerns about the UK government’s failure to “entrench” the permanence of the Scottish Parliament and its intention to “hoard” powers repatriated from Brussels.
The Glasgow MSP reminded the chamber that the Scottish people voted in favour of a Scottish Parliament, by 74%, in 1997 and urged the First Minister to ensure that the Westminster government does not “bypass” Holyrood in relevant sections of the Repeal Bill.
Harvie went on to condemn “hard right Brexiteers” for committing an “act of vandalism” that has the potential damage the Scottish economy and rip up environmental protections.
Patrick Harvie MSP said:
“At the very same time as MSPs were holding the First Minister to account on the full range of the Scottish Government’s responsibilities, the UK government was announcing a plan to hoard power, taking to themselves the ancient right of Kings to bypass parliament and re-write the laws of the land.
“It is absolutely essential that we put power over Scotland’s future where it belongs – in the Scottish Parliament which our voters created nearly 20 years ago and in the hands of those voters themselves.
“The UK government has already failed to deliver its promise to entrench the permanence of the Scottish Parliament; it would add insult to injury if the UK government use Brexit as an excuse to undermine the powers exercised here.
“Leaving the EU and the single market will hugely damage our society and our economy, and will put at risk a vast range of critically important environmental protections, from clean air to food production. The hard right Brexiteers cannot be trusted with these powers, and have already threatened a Trump-style bonfire of the regulations which protect people in Scotland. We cannot permit this act of vandalism.”