Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland "should expect significant rise in powers"

Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland should expect a “significant increase” in powers for their administrations post-Brexit, David Davis has said.

The Brexit Secretary was pressed by Labour to guarantee that the UK's withdrawal from the EU would not be used as an “excuse to hoard powers in Whitehall”.

Mr Davis gave the assurance to the devolved nations as he outlined how the Westminster Government intends to oversee the conversion of EU law onto the UK statute.

The Tory frontbencher also asserted the importance of keeping the UK's internal market together in the face of renewed calls for another Scottish independence referendum.

Speaking in the Commons, shadow Brexit secretary Sir Keir Starmer said: “Brexit should not be an excuse to hoard powers in Whitehall.

“There has to be a heavy presumption that devolved matters remain devolved as powers and responsibilities transfer from the EU to the UK.”

Mr Davis, in his reply, said: “No powers currently exercised by them will be taken away. We've said that time and again.

“We also expect there to be a significant increase in the powers exercised by the devolved administrations.

“But I say this - we have to maintain the United Kingdom internal market too.

“That is four times as important to Scottish businesses, for example, as the European market.

“It's incredibly important to Northern Irish and Welsh businesses too, and the administrations understand that.

“But we will be having discussions with them at length - we've already started - about how we exercise this, and I'm very happy to talk to him directly about the matter if that is useful to him.”

SNP Europe spokesman Stephen Gethins said Scotland had been given a “rough wooing” over Brexit, as the white paper to the Great Repeal Bill revealed so-called Henry VIII clauses allowing the Government to repeal laws without parliamentary approval.

The North East Fife MP said: “We are turning the clock back 40 years and I am glad that the minister reminded his own front benches that devolution existed now in a way that didn't exist 40 years ago.

“It's been suggested that the Government is looking at Henry VIII clauses to take this through, so much for parliamentary sovereignty.

“Scotland's aspirations for a voice also seem to be given the Henry VIII treatment with a rough wooing clearly taking place right now.”

Mr Gethins said the Government had “pushed the big, red button marked Brexit with their fingers crossed” and there was little clarity on what comes next.

In reply, Mr Davis said the powers were not “an executive fiat dating from the Middle Ages'' but a procedure that remains in “complete control” of MPs.