Moray MP Douglas Ross has welcomed the vote in favour of the Government amendment on the EU withdrawal bill which will see more powers passed to the Scottish Parliament when the UK leaves the EU. The withdrawal bill puts EU legislation into law to ensure a smooth and orderly transition as the United Kingdom leaves the EU.
Commenting after the devolution amendment was passed with a significant majority, Douglas said: “By supporting this amendment I ensured that the vast majority of laws that are currently governed by the EU are transferred directly to the Scottish Parliament. In contrast the SNP want all these powers to remain with the EU where we would have no control over them.
“While the devolved administration in Wales and Labour members of the House of Lords, many of them the architects of devolution, support the government in its amendment sadly the SNP put its party interest ahead of the country and want to use this to kick-start yet another drive for independence.
“In Moray we said no to independence in 2014 and had the closest result on whether to remain or leave in the EU referendum. Most people I speak to just want us to get on with delivering Brexit and delivering for the country. These repeated attempts by the SNP to manufacture a constitutional crisis for their own perceived political gains is deeply disappointing.
“We must never forget that not a single power currently held by the Scottish Parliament will be removed and of the 119 extra powers coming back from the EU, only 24 remain under question as the UK Government aims to protect the internal market of the UK which is so important to Moray and Scottish businesses.”