Westminster must stop undermining devolution

The stark realities of Brexit become clearer every day. Labour shortages mean farmers are unable to pick their crops. Scotland’s world-renowned seafood struggles to reach lucrative EU

markets due to Brexit red tape. We are told to expect a summer of rolling shortages on supermarket shelves as there aren’t enough hauliers now that we have left the EU. While the result

looks far from promises that Brexit would allow the UK to “take back control”, there’s one area the UK government has been working hard to assert its control – over the powers of Scotland’s

democratically elected Parliament. This can be seen most clearly in its Internal Market Act, which effectively gives the UK government a veto over the Scottish Parliament’s powers. It does

this in a sleekit way. Holyrood can still pass devolved laws on matters such as animal welfare, food standards or the environment, but if the UK government introduces different rules, these

must automatically be accepted in Scotland, even if they are lower than standards set here. Take the global plastics crisis. The Scottish government is committed to acting to reduce our

reliance on single-use plastic, and environmental policy is a devolved matter. > 🌍 This week @NicolaSturgeon spoke at the Austrian World Summit, > pledging Scotland will lead by 

example in the fight against climate > change. >  > 📣 "We have to be bold, and we have to be brave. We owe it to the > generation growing up now to leave the planet in 

better shape for > them." pic.twitter.com/acw0heGyfZ >  > — The SNP (@theSNP) July 3, 2021 In 2019, Scotland became the first nation in the UK to ban plastic-stemmed cotton

buds. There is strong support for market restrictions on single-use plastics. In a recent consultation, 94 per cent of individuals were in favour of a ban and among organisations the

proportion ranged from 76 to 91 per cent. The Scottish Government intends to build on this and the voluntary steps already being taken by businesses and services across the country to switch

to more sustainable products, and phase out other single-use plastic items. However the UK Internal Market Act risks undercutting these ambitions: while we could ban or restrict supply or

manufacture of locally produced single-use plastic – if lower standards apply elsewhere in the UK, then the Act would mean these standards must be accepted in Scotland. > 🚫 The Internal 

Market Bill means that many crucial > decision-making powers will be in the hands of Boris Johnson, with > the Scottish Parliament overruled by Westminster. >  > 🔥 

@NicolaSturgeon did not hold back. #FMQs > pic.twitter.com/kgtGoaFm9r >  > — The SNP (@theSNP) September 17, 2020 Having to accept lower standards set elsewhere in the UK means

diluting our efforts to tackle the scourge of single-use plastics on Scotland’s environment. Fortunately there’s another way to approach this. Since 2017 the Scottish Government has sought

to work with the other governments of the UK to develop common frameworks – ways of working to agree how we manage differences in approach on matters such as the environment where we

previously worked to EU rules. This model of progress by agreement between equal partners is the correct way of managing policy differences across the UK: being able to do things differently

is, after all, the purpose of devolution. In recent weeks I have been meeting with officials and ministers in London and Edinburgh to make progress on framework agreements. The Scottish

Government is pushing the UK government to respect devolution and allow our Parliament to make meaningful choices that work for Scotland, and not have these choices undermined by the

Internal Market Act. Time is running out. Hopefully the UK government will deliver on its commitments. _This article originally appeared in the Edinburgh Evening News._