Once Brexit is achieved, the powers that Brussels currently exercise over the UK will naturally fall back to the UK.
This has been portrayed by those in the devolved assemblies (especially by Nicola Sturgeon's SNP) that this is actually some sort of 'power grab' by Westminster.
But I say that it is likes of the SNP that are engaged in the real power grab, because the law-making and judicial powers that the EU currently have are nothing to do with the devolved assemblies.
There are those on the Leave side that say we gave our sovereign powers away to the EU, so the devolved assemblies don't have those powers. And there are those on the Remain side that claim we never gave sovereignty away, so if the devolved assemblies don't have those powers now, then they never had them anyway.
Scottish Parliament building by Mary and Angus Hogg (CC-BY-SA-2.0)
Either way those powers either lie with Brussels to be passed down to the UK as a whole (Westminster), or they remain with Westminster.
So to me the logical outcome is that UK central government should have immediate control and then look to see if it makes sense on a UK wide basis to devolve them down within a legal framework that works for the whole country. Just handing them out like sweeties makes no sense at all.
But the SNP is doing its best to exploit what it sees as a weak government to try and wrest as much power away from Westminster as it can.
But Whitehall has given as much as it feels it can and has now dug its heels in, which is being labelled as some sort of constitutional crisis.
The SNP wants as much power as it can get as quickly as it can get them, while central government wants to ensure that proper UK wide frameworks are put in place before devolving any further powers.
What should surprise people is that the SNP was very happy when Brussels held the reins, not a squeak was heard. But just look at the relevant numbers of MEPs and MPs etc and you can see that the SNP would have more say after powers were returned to Westminster than when they were held in Brussels.
But of course the avowed aim of the SNP is Scottish independence and anything they can do to try and drive wedges between Scotland and the rest of the UK (well, England actually) is good as far as they are concerned. The SNP also saw UK membership of the EU as their eventual route to independence – even though all it meant was transferring dependence on the UK to dependence on the EU.
But those SNP politicians forget (or ignore) that the people of Scotland voted to stay a part of the United Kingdom, they are not for the driving of wedges. So they should be careful not to upset their own voters, especially as Brexit will lead to a greater need for the UK nations to work closely together.
Brexit will, in the long run, bring the people of the UK closer together. And that is probably what worries the SNP the most.
