The Courier & Advertiser (Angus and Dundee)
No new proposals for devolution deadlock says David Mundell
Brexit: Scottish Secretary doubts settlement can be reached
The UK Government will offer no new proposals to break a deadlock over the impact of key Brexit legislation on devolution, the Scottish Secretary has said.
David Mundell said he did not think a settlement could be reached over the EU Withdrawal Bill and blamed the Scottish Government.
He rejected calls from the SNP and Labour for him to stand aside ahead of an emergency debate on devolution in the House of Commons today.
SNP Westminster leader Ian Blackford will use the debate to call for emergency legislation to prevent what Scottish ministers view as a “power grab”.
The Scottish Parliament has voted to withhold its consent for the Bill, with only the Scottish Conservatives backing the legislation.
Mr Mundell told the BBC’S Sunday Politics Scotland programme: “There won’t be any new proposals.
“The Government set out its position in line with the existing constitutional settlement and at the heart of this... is that the SNP don’t accept the existing constitutional settlement.
“They want to change that settlement, they want to bring about independence, they don’t hide that.
“The core of this dispute is that there are just two different views of how Scotland’s place should be in the future.”
He added: “There’s nothing new in the sense that these matters have been debated extensively, the Scottish Government have a position which they’ve had for a year, they don’t seem to have suggested any basis on which to change that position.
“The Welsh Government was able to accept the huge compromise the UK Government made. The Scottish Government are still in exactly the same position they were a year ago.
“I don’t think there is a settlement to be had. I’ve always looked to bring forward agreed amendments, amendments that had been agreed with the Scottish Government, but it’s become quite clear throughout this process that it’s not possible to reach that agreement.”
SNP MP Tommy Sheppard told the programme that the party’s MPS would “use every means at our disposal” to try to protect the devolution settlement which was “very much under threat”.
It follows Mr Blackford’s expulsion from the Commons last week and the SNP walk-out in protest at the lack of time devoted to discussing the impact of the legislation on devolution.