HOLYROOD has rejected Boris Johnson’s deal to 'get Brexit done', putting it on a constitutional collision course with Westminster.

MSPs voted 92 to 29 against the legislation needed to put the deal into effect on the basis it was incompatible with Scotland’s desire to stay in the EU.

The SNP, Labour, Greens and Liberal Democrats all rejected the EU Withdrawal Agreement Bill (WAB), with only the Conservatives supporting it.

READ MORE: Relationship between Westminster and Holyrood ‘at low ebb’

It followed Holyrood’s cross-party finance and constitution committee rejecting the WAB, again with only the Tories dissenting.

The Conservatives said the SNP was dogmatically opposed to any Brexit deal, no matter what it contained.

Westminster, which is currently considering the WAB, is now likely to impose the legislation on Scotland regardless, despite it affecting many devolved areas.

If so, it will be only the second time this has happened since devolution began in 1999.

The only other example was the original Brexit law, the EU Withdrawal Act, which Westminster imposed against Holyrood’s wishes in 2018.

The SNP called the situation “an “unprecedented constitutional crisis”.

Nicola Sturgeon has already warned that if Westminster passes the WAB without Holyrood's consent it would show "contempt for devolution”.

Scotland voted 62-38 to Remain in the EU in 2016, while the UK as a whole voted 52-48 to Leave.

The UK Government had sought Holyrood’s consent for a number of clauses in the WAB, including ones giving UK ministers powers in devolved areas such as social security and professional qualifications.

The Scottish Government announced in December that it was recommending MSPs withhold legislative consent.

SNP ministers said they could not “recommend that the Scottish Parliament consent to a Bill to give effect to an agreement which it considers will do significant damage to Scotland”.

Under the Sewel Convention, Westminster will “not normally” legislate in devolved areas without Holyrood’s explicit consent.

However Westminster remains sovereign and can ultimately legislate as it wishes.

Repeated breaches of the convention, as now seem likely, will inevitably raise questions about its worth and the nature of devolution.

SNP Brexit Secretary Michael Russell said that, besides being contrary to Scotland’s wishes, the WAB diluted workers’ rights and removed vital protections for refugee children.

He said it would also give UK ministers the power to operate in devolved areas in future by using secondary legislation without even asking Holyrood’s permission.

Mr Russell also criticised the WAB for reviving the prospect of a no-deal Brexit by including a ban on extending the implementation period beyond 2020, meaning Mr Johnson mmust negotiate a trade deal with the EU in a record 11 months or fall back on WTO terms.

After the vote, he said: “The vote in the Scottish Parliament has explicitly – and comprehensively - rejected consent to the Withdrawal Agreement Bill.

“The people of Scotland have consistently rejected Brexit, and our national Parliament has today, once again, reaffirmed that view.

“However, we are well aware the UK Government will ignore our position on consent to this Bill, just as it has consistently ignored the views of the people of Scotland throughout this process.

“The message has been sent, yet again: Scotland stands firmly against Brexit, and rather than being taken out of Europe against its will, now wishes to exercise its right to choose its own future.”

Tory MSP Adam Tomkins accused the SNP of “hypocrisy” for opposing both a Brexit deal and a no-deal Brexit.

He said: “Brexit will be sorted because a majority Conservative government will deliver and give effect to the decision that the British people made more than three long years ago.

“The SNP’s objection is not to what the withdrawal agreement and the bill say – the objection is to their very being, their very existence.

“It wouldn’t matter what the terms of exit are – the nationalists would still invent a grievance and object.

“Of course, the SNP doesn’t like the Brexit deal because it knows it will make its already threadbare and rejected case for independence even more unattractive.

“And if the nationalists genuinely want to avoid a no-deal Brexit – rather than just make a lot of noise about it – at some point they will have to support a deal.

“In the end, they have to choose. You cannot be opposed to a no-deal Brexit and at the same time oppose any and every available deal that would avoid it.”

Labour MSP Alex Rowley said Brexit would damage Scotland’s economy, jeopardise the NHS and did not reflect how Scotland voted in 2016.

He said: “There is very real prospect of crashing out at the end of the year and it is now certain that at a minimum we are heading for a hard, damaging Brexit.

“We also have to be honest, and make clear, that while Brexit will now happen, it will not be over with for a very long time.

“Those that voted for the Tory Party under the premise that they will 'Get Brexit Done' have been sold a mistruth. 'Get Brexit done' might well have fooled many but what is clear is that Brexit and its consequences are going to impact on working people for many years indeed decades to come.

“We know there is a very real desire of the Tory Party to seek trade deals with Donald Trump.

“Trade deals that could see the prospect of our NHS opened up to US markets, sub-standard food flooding the UK and the Trump administration has stated it does not want climate change mentioned at all in any UK-US Deal.

“I do not believe this is really the kind of deal that people want to happen. A deal that threatens our national institutions and puts profit ahead of protecting our environment.

“It is for these reasons, and more, that Scotland must be at the table as an equal partner in any and all negotiations that take place about future arrangement of the UK that impact on Scotland post-Brexit.”

Scottish Green MSP Patrick Harvie said the UK’s request for legislative consent was a “sham”, when it expected Holyrood to grant it without question. To give it in such circumstances would therefore be “supine, pathetic and utterly lacking in self-respect”.

Scottish Liberal Democrat leader Willie Rennie said: “Scottish Liberal Democrats were clear that we would oppose Brexit in all its forms and that is what we will do. I still believe and will continue to make the case that we should make Brexit stop.

“There is now an important role to play in challenging, cajoling and scrutinising the government. Brexit has already damaged our economy and diminished our place in the world. The Conservatives must own this now.”

SNP MSP Tom Arthur added: “The Scottish Parliament has voted overwhelmingly against the EU Withdrawal Bill, in line with the decisive and repeated votes of the people of Scotland.

“Despite this, Boris Johnson is set to rip up precedent by ignoring Holyrood and riding roughshod over Scotland’s democratic will, sparking an unprecedented constitutional crisis.

“Scotland clearly opposes Brexit but we now face being dragged out of the EU against our will.

“In doing so, Boris Johnson is set to demolish a key principle of devolution – paving the way for a full-scale post-Brexit power grab control over Holyrood. That is something the SNP will fight every step of the way.

“The Tories have no mandate to deliver Brexit in Scotland, and they certainly have no mandate to seize control of matters that should rightly be determined in Scotland.

“Scotland’s future must be in Scotland’s hands – not Boris Johnson’s.”

Earlier in the day, Scottish Secretary Alister Jack garbled an explanation of the convention in the Commons, wrongly implying it related to reserved, not devolved, legislation.

At Scottish Questions, he told MPs: “Under the Sewel convention, we have provision for what is known as ‘not normal’. This is a constitutional matter. Constitutional matters are reserved, and they are not normally under the remit of the Scottish Parliament.”

Mr Russell also told Holyrood’s finance and constitution committee that relations between Edinburgh and London had sunk to a “low ebb” since Mr Johnson become Prime Minister, with “scant, if any, respect..., and a view that when push comes to shove the UK Government can do precisely what it wishes to do.”

READ MORE: Alister Jack confirms he has received Nicola Sturgeon’s request for a second independence referendum

He claimed there was “considerable nervousness within the UK civil service about what was taking place, adding: “It’s fair to say that normal relationships which I’ve been used to as a minister these last 12 years are at a low ebb from officials as well as ministers.”

However Whitehall sources said SNP ministers were ignoring the positive changes the WAB would make, including many the Scottish Government had asked for itself.

One source said: “It’s pretty hypocritical to call for the protection of EU citizens’ rights then oppose measures in a Bill which give them the power to do just that, for example.”