Scottish National party and Conservative politicians have lambasted the UK government for dropping plans to protect Scotland’s position in the Brexit bill at the last moment.

Ministers were due to publish amendments to a highly contentious clause in the EU withdrawal bill in the Commons on Wednesday that centralised more than 100 European powers in Whitehall after Brexit, even though they involve policy controlled by the devolved parliaments.

Those measures, in clause 11 of the bill, had been attacked as a power grab by Nicola Sturgeon and Carwyn Jones, the Scottish and Welsh first ministers, fuelling intense pressure inside the Conservative government and from Scottish Tories to change it.



But David Mundell, the Scottish secretary, told the Scottish government on Tuesday the amendments had been postponed because of unexpected delays in Whitehall, leading to SNP accusations he had “sold out Scotland” and furious protests within the Conservative party.

Instead, the changes will be introduced in the House of Lords in early spring. That will severely restrict the rights of SNP MPs to debate the changes since the SNP refuses to join the Lords, as its members are unelected.

Adam Tomkin, the Scottish Tories’ constitutional affairs spokesman in Holyrood, told MSPs on Tuesday he was “frustrated and deeply disappointed” to learn that these measures had been delayed.

He said he believed the measures would satisfy the Scottish government. “I’m still optimistic that it will still happen but it is a fact it is not happening quite as expeditiously as we had expected,” he said.

It is understood Damian Green’s resignation as first secretary of state five days before the Christmas holiday was to blame. Green had been leading the UK government’s Brexit negotiations with the Scottish government.

His departure meant there was no minister or special advisers in Whitehall able to shepherd the amendment through over the Christmas recess. Whitehall civil servants had already been resistant to changing that clause, claiming it was too complex to immediately devolve so many powers after Brexit.

Pushing this vote up to the Lords will probably fuel SNP resentments about its role in governing the UK and in turn fuel calls for Scotland’s independence.

Ministers in London are brokering talks with a senior and well-respected Scottish crossbench peer, thought to be the former supreme court judge Lord Hope, to act as a proxy for the SNP when the clause comes up for debate to defuse that row.

Stephen Gethins, the SNP’s Europe spokesman at Westminster, said: “The Tories are engaged in a blatant Brexit power grab – and David Mundell’s failure to do as he promised means he is guilty of selling out Scotland.

“At every turn and at every opportunity, this Tory government has attempted to dodge parliamentary scrutiny and sideline devolved administrations – opting instead on sending crucial aspects of this legislation to the unelected House of Lords.”

Despite the delay on clause 11, the UK government is tabling amendments in the Commons on Wednesday to a less contentious clause which will give Scottish ministers the same powers as UK ministers to amend existing legislation which is affected by the repatriation of EU powers.

In a further attempt to minimise Scottish and Welsh anxieties, Green’s successor, David Lidington, called Carwyn Jones in Cardiff and John Swinney, the deputy first minister of Scotland, during his first day in office to offer fresh talks on the Brexit legislation.

Lidington said: “A great deal of progress has been made in recent months on how current EU policy areas will be dealt with as they return to the UK. From my talks today I believe that all parties want to find an agreed way forward and I am confident that can be achieved.”