12:06

Scottish ministers have set aside £27m to cope with the administration and parliamentary costs of Brexit, but faced heavy opposition criticism for giving Holyrood few details about their planning.

Mike Russell, the Scottish government’s constitutional relations secretary, told MSPs today the money was being diverted to departments most affected by coping with Brexit.

He said the Scottish parliament faced an unprecedented number of technical pieces of legislation, known as statutory instruments, to prepare Scottish legislation for Brexit. Russell did not spell out much detail, leading to attacks from both Labour and the Scottish Greens for being too vague.

Holyrood sources say Russell has told them he estimates the devolved parliament will need to scrutinise about 100 statutory instruments.

It remains unclear how much work or parliamentary time those will involve. Some will be complex and important, covering farming, policing and medicines. Legal experts say there could be hundreds of others which may involve only minor bureaucratic changes, while many could also be dealt with at UK level by Westminster on Scotland’s behalf.

Russell said that, faced with the chaos of a no-deal Brexit and the continuing need for continuity after exit day, his government was duty bound to prepare for a blind Brexit and a no-deal outcome. The SNP would continue arguing for the UK to remain within the single market and customs union “whilst fulfilling our duty of protecting Scotland as best we can from the threats of a Brexit – any Brexit - that we do not want, and that we did not vote for.”

Neil Findlay, Scottish Labour’s Brexit spokesman, said it was right that ministers planned for every eventuality. “But the reality is the SNP has provided scant detail on the nature of its preparations, focusing instead on spin and rhetoric over substance,” he told Russell.