‘Great Repeal Bill’ to result in great ‘constitutional bust-up’

The “Great Repeal Bill” will result in a “constitutional bust-up”, according to one legal academic.

Professor Jo Shaw, the Salvesen Chair of European Institutions at Edinburgh University Law School, said that it was inevitable the Scottish and UK governments would come to blows over the legislation.

The bill will repeal the European Communities Act 1972 and render all EU law domestic law.

But Scottish Brexit minister Mike Russell warned that Holyrood might choose to block the bill if Scotland’s interests were not adequately represented.

Professor Shaw told BBC Radio’s Good Morning Scotland programme that the issue involves legality and legitimacy.

She said: “The legal reality, as I’m quite sure Mike Russell knows, is that the UK Parliament remains sovereign within the British system as it exists.

“So consequently a piece of subsequent legislation from Westminster which overrode or repealed or changed part of the Scottish devolution legislation would of course take priority.

“Legally I have to say I think the UK government holds most of the cards. In legitimacy terms, one could point to the Scottish government having a pretty good hand to play.”

She added: “We’ve seen statements about collaboration that Mrs May made right at the beginning of her premiership have largely gone away now. She’s said things like, ‘well, Scotland can have its say but ultimately we drive the process here in London.’”

It is a rule of the constitution that no parliament can bind its successors.

As such, Professor Shaw said that “There may have been one parliament that enshrined the legislative consent motion into the Scotland Act 2016.

“The next parliament can then enact this measure that we’re talking about today and the effect of that could be to impliedly repeal parts of the devolution settlement.”