Scotland must get key environmental powers handed back after new post-Brexit rules “radically undermined” Holyrood, an expert report has found.
Research for charities umbrella group Scottish Environment LINK criticised Westminster’s controversial Internal Market Act, which the SNP have repeatedly branded a power grab. The law, introduced by the Tories following Brexit, seeks to bring all parts of the UK under one set of trade rules.
But this has previously caused difficulties for the Scottish Government – for instance, when it tried to introduce its own deposit return recycling scheme for bottles and cans, ultimately blocked by Tory ministers. It’s also raised issues in policy areas as diverse as bans on horticultural peat, minimum unit pricing for alcohol and the sale of XL Bully dogs.
Researchers said the legislation now needed “keyhole surgery” to help “devolved institutions flourish again” and create exemptions in areas that fall under the jurisdiction of devolved governments. Much of public health and the environment is supposed to be devolved to Holyrood.
Deborah Long, Chief Executive of Scottish Environment LINK, said: “One of the key ideas behind devolution was to make space for each of the four nations to innovate, to develop local solutions to shared problems, and to learn from each other’s experiences. Over the years, this has been particularly true of environmental and public health policy, with measures like the carrier bag charge being adopted by the devolved institutions first.
“This approach – part democracy, part testbed – has come to a grinding halt under the Internal Market Act.” She added: “If the changes proposed in our report today are not adopted, we face years of inertia, delay and uncertainty.”
James Mackenzie, author of the report, said: “Devolution came to Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland with great fanfare and on the back of three democratic mandates. More than twenty years later, through the Internal Market Act, those devolved institutions were radically undermined in a way many people are still not aware of.”
Kat Jones, Director of Action to Protect Rural Scotland, added: “We campaigned for ten years for a simple deposit return system for Scotland, something Scottish Ministers could have brought in at any point since 1999, thanks to the devolution of environmental policy.
“Right at the last minute the plug got pulled by UK ministers, wasting years of work and vast sums of money, and ensuring millions of cans and bottles end up in landfill or littered in our towns and countryside. The Internal Market Act is entirely unfit for purpose.”
It comes after the new UK Labour government announced a fast-track review of the Internal Market Act earlier this month. A spokesperson said: “We are committed to working closely with the devolved nations.”
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