All posts by robertmcsevney

Exclusive: explosive new eye-witness testimony shows Orgreave not about ‘rogue’ police

I’ve had the privilege over the last couple of days of interviewing an eyewitness who had a ‘ringside seat’ for the infamous ‘Battle of Orgreave’. This witness, who wa…

Source: Exclusive: explosive new eye-witness testimony shows Orgreave not about ‘rogue’ police

100 days of Brexit: lessons for Scottish independence?

Iain Macwhirter

IT is generally agreed, three months on from “B-Day”, that Brexit has made Scottish independence much more likely by pulling a reluctant Scotland out of the EU. But the chaotic early months of what some are calling “UK independence” could also be seen as an intriguing dry run for Scottish independence – a kind of mirror image of what might have happened had Scotland voted Yes in 2014.

There would have been similar confusion, and hard negotiations, as Scotland tried to remain in a single currency with a reluctant rUK. There would have been border issues to figure out too. Like today, big companies and banks would have either been relocating or asking for assurances. There would also have been intense negotiations, post a Yes vote, about whether and how Scotland remained in the European Union.

I suspect, however, that the economic disruption of Scottish independence would have been much…

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You’ll have had your legislative consent. Holyrood will not get a vote on Great Repeal Bill.

Iain Macwhirter

The UK government is making clear that it believes the Scottish parliament has no say over the Brexit process because it is about foreign affairs and the constitution, both of which are reserved powers to Westminster.  That will never fly.

Repealing the 1972 European Communities Act will directly affect Holyrood’s powers, not just because Brussels law will no longer apply here.  There is a whole raft of questions about what powers would or should be repatriated to Holyrood,like agriculture and fishers.  There are important questions about whether Scottish workers still have protections at work that were enshrined in EU law.

So, most commentators have assumed that Holyrood should have to be given a say on all this.  Since 1999, under what used to be called the Sewel Convention, Holyrood has had the right to vote on acts of the Westminster Parliament that have an impact on devolved powers. MSPs have…

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