The transfer of EU powers to Holyrood “pales into insignificance” when compared with those heading to Westminster after Brexit, says a Dundee professor.
Scottish Secretary David Mundell has been talking up the extra powers that Scotland stands to get after the UK leaves the bloc. But Alan Page, professor of public law at Dundee University, said Holyrood will automatically receive relatively few powers from Brussels.
The main functions set to be transferred to Scottish Parliament relate to justice, home affairs, agriculture, fisheries and the environment.
He told The Courier: “They are important but they pale into insignificance when you look at those powers that would be returned to Westminster, particularly the free movement of people, goods, services, capital and so forth.”
He said powers that will revert to Westminster also include social and employment policy, which includes rules on the length of the working the week that SNP ministers may have their eye on.
Prof Page, who has acted as a special advisor to the Scottish Parliament on devolution, said that Scottish ministers face a stark choice on how to pay for farming subsidies as their UK counterparts push for a cheaper system.
“The expectation is that the UK Government will not be funding the agricultural subsidies system anywhere near as generously as the EU has done,” he said.
“That will leave the Scottish Government in a difficult position, where they will have to cut the CAP payments or find the money from elsewhere.”
Mr Mundell said at the weekend that Brexit will fundamentally change the devolution terms for Scotland and could be on the scale of the package delivered after 2014’s No vote. He also promised that no powers will be “re-reserved” back to Westminster.
A UK Government spokeswoman said they will secure the “best possible” Brexit deal. She added: “That deal must work for all parts of the UK, and for the UK as a whole. As part of this process, we are engaging fully with the Scottish Government and the other devolved administrations.”
Ivan McKee, an SNP MSP who sits on Holyrood’s constitution committee, said Mr Mundell’s “grand statements of giving Scotland greater power” contradict previous claims about fishing and agriculture from Scottish Conservative leader Ruth Davidson and Andream Leadsom, the UK’s environment secretary. He said: “No vague promise of further powers for Scotland will be enough to mask the damage that a Tory Brexit will cause Scotland – with forecasts of 80,000 lost jobs and an £11.2 billion hit to the economy.”