Nicola Sturgeon warns of Tory 'power grab' on Holyrood

Nicola Sturgeon has warned against a ''power grab'' on Holyrood as details of the planned Great Repeal Bill are published.

The First Minister said it would be "absolutely unacceptable" if powers repatriated from the European Union (EU) in devolved areas such as fishing and agriculture did not come to the Scottish Parliament.

The UK Government has published details of proposed legislation to transfer the whole of EU law on to the UK statute book as Britain leaves the EU.

Speaking during First Minister's Questions at Holyrood, Ms Sturgeon said: ''The issue, of course, around the Great Repeal Bill is about powers currently with the EU, that if they are to be repatriated in areas that are currently wholly devolved - agriculture, fishing, for example - where should those powers go?

''Now, under the current terms of the Scotland Act, those powers should automatically come to this chamber but nobody in the UK Government, and I discussed this with the Prime Minister on Monday, nobody on the Conservative benches will give that guarantee, which leads me to suspect that what the Tories are actually planning is a power grab on this parliament, and that will be absolutely unacceptable.'

"I think it's really important that everybody across this chamber stands up for the rights of this Parliament before we go any further in this process.''

Scotland's Brexit Minister Mike Russell said the proposed legislation risked undermining the devolution settlement and exposed "empty promises" on further powers for Scotland.

He said: "This white paper for this Brexit bill leaves many important questions unanswered, such as the nature of the powers for the Scottish Parliament, and the need for the consent of the Scottish Parliament under the Sewel Convention.

"There are no new powers proposed for the parliament beyond those required to fix the mess that will be caused by Brexit, exposing what have so far been empty promises from the UK Government.

"In all other areas where powers already belong to the Scottish Parliament, the white paper continues to threaten that in areas such as agriculture, fisheries and the environment, powers will be taken by the UK Government after Brexit.

"For the UK government to seek to impose legislative frameworks on these areas would be to take the unprecedented step of extending its powers over Scotland and must not take place. The Scottish Parliament's competences must not be diminished as a result of Brexit."

Mr Russell called on the UK Government to work closely with the Scottish Government on the detail of the bill.

He said: "The UK Government continues to assert that the UK is a partnership of four nations. It needs to now prove that it truly believes this by entering into meaningful discussions as the process of withdrawing from the EU gets under way."