Yesterday in the House of Commons, I had the pleasure of pushing back against the SNP, who are claiming that the Repeal Bill represents a power grab by the Westminster Government, and puts the devolved Government at risk of losing power.
Of course, it does no such thing. The Bill actually gives more power to devolved Governments, passed on directly from Westminster. The Government also wants to ensure that power is returned as close as possible to communities as laws are returned to the UK. I expect that there will be a significant increase in the decision-making powers of the devolved administrations but I want this approach to work coherently for the whole of the UK.
I feel as though their claims of ‘Power Grabs’ were ironic, seeing that over the past 10 years, the SNP have centralised as much power as possible to Holyrood, cancelling out local democracy, and leaving councillors almost powerless.
We in Stirling know this all too well. On Park of Keir the SNP’s power grabbing has left local communities and councils almost powerless to prevent the government running affairs for them. I will continue to stand up for local democracy in Parliament, as will my Scottish Conservative colleagues in Holyrood.
You can see the clip here: