BREXIT Minister Michael Russell will tonight warn that the Scottish Government is prepared to pass its own laws to protect the country from a Hard Brexit in which the UK leaves the single market.

In a speech to be delivered to SNP activists, Russell will say: “Events in recent days have underlined that the UK Government is still intent on a power grab and also hurtling towards a very damaging hard Brexit. And Scotland’s voice wasn’t even heard round the UK Cabinet table last week.

“The Leavers promised the Earth in the European referendum but the nasty reality is that the Scottish Parliament will have its powers diminished and key sectors of Scottish life – farming, fishing, our food industries, manufacturing, public services and even our precious NHS – will be badly affected.

“The Scottish Government is working closely with the Welsh Government to try to ensure we are protected from this damage but so far our negotiations have not resulted in the changes we have to see in the EU Withdrawal Bill which is presently going through the House of Lords.

“That is why we are redoubling our efforts to get change and agreement, but why we are also preparing to undertake our own legislation.”

Russell, who will deliver his speech at Community Central Hall in Glasgow’s Maryhill, will also repeat the Scottish Government’s commitment to staying in the customs union.

He will say: “We are also absolutely opposed to withdrawal from the EU but if it does happen the only possible way forward is to stay in the customs union and the single market, and that is the case we are putting very strongly in London and in Brussels.”

Russell yesterday crossed swords with UK Government Cabinet Office Minister David Lidington who alleged in an article for an English-based newspaper that the Scottish Government’s insistence on retaining devolved powers could damage the UK’s ability to strike new trade deals.

Russell, the Minister for UK Negotiations on Scotland’s Place in Europe, said: “With these comments from the UK Government, the cat is out of the bag – and it simply underlines the urgent need to fully protect the existing devolution settlement. People in Scotland voted overwhelmingly for devolution and against Brexit. But the Tories are now trying to undermine what we voted for, the Scottish Parliament, to force through what we rejected – Brexit.

“The current discussions between the Scottish and UK governments centre only on areas that are already devolved. The Tories have now made it crystal clear they want to take control of some of these devolved powers as part of their plan for a disastrous hard Brexit outside the EU single market and customs union.

“This raises some very troubling questions for issues such as food stan- dards and environmental protection. And if, for example, a future trade deal involved healthcare, could Scotland be forced down the same route as England and made to open up our health service to private providers?

An SNP spokesman said: “The SNP are not opposed in principle to common frameworks after Brexit, where they are in Scotland’s interests.

“But on areas of devolved competence, it must be for the Scottish Parliament to decide how those powers are exercised. Any attempt to undermine that fundamental principle is an attempt to undermine the devolution settlement itself – and we will not accept any power grab. The people risking damage to the economy are the Tory hardliners.”