Please see below a comment from the Cabinet Secretary for
Constitution, External Affairs and Culture in response to the UK
Government findings from the statutory review of the Internal
Market Act 2020.
Constitution Secretary said:
“The Internal Market Act was introduced by the previous UK
Government and passed at Westminster without the consent of any
Devolved Government or Parliament. It undermines the ability of
the Scottish Parliament to use its powers to pursue devolved
social and economic objectives in Scotland for the people to
which it is accountable.
“It introduces radical new uncertainty as to the effect of laws
passed by the Scottish Parliament and effectively provides a veto
to UK Ministers. Nothing set out in the UK Government's
response to the review changes this position, which is completely
unacceptable.
“The conclusion of the review falls well short of our stated
position of repeal and replace the Internal Market Act, and
indeed short of the legislative change required to mitigate the
most damaging aspects of the operation of the IMA. It is
important also to note that the Scottish Parliament has twice
voted to repeal the Act – since it is fundamentally misconceived
and incompatible with devolution.
“We do welcome the UK Government's intention to address some of
the most egregious issues with the function of the IMA exclusions
process. However, we remain concerned that there is no clear
vehicle to give meaningful effect to these changes, which work
against our shared interests to promote growth, protect jobs and
ensure seamless trade across the UK nations.”
Background
https://www.gov.uk/government/consultations/uk-internal-market-act-2020-review-and-consultation
