Chamber and committees

How devolution is changing post EU

Background

The CEEAC Committee concluded in our report on the Impact of Brexit on Devolution that there are fundamental concerns which need to be addressed in relation to how devolution works outside the EU. On the back of its report, the Committee looked to facilitate a public debate about how devolution is changing following the UK’s departure from the EU, and importantly how it should evolve post EU exit, to meet the challenges and opportunities of the new constitutional landscape.

The Committee launched a major inquiry to allow businesses, civic society and the wider public to engage on these core issues.

Questions include:

Please see below a list of questions that the inquiry was looking at:

• How devolution is now working following the UK’s departure from the EU including your experience of the policy-making and legislative processes;

• How should devolution evolve post EU exit, to meet the challenges and opportunities of the new constitutional landscape;

• How much scope there is for regulatory divergence in areas such as environmental standards, food standards and animal welfare between each of the four parts of the UK;

• Are there sufficient safeguards to allow regulatory divergence across the four parts of the UK in areas where there are disagreements between governments?

• Are there sufficient safeguards to ensure an open and transparent policy-making and legislative process in determining the post-EU exit regulatory environment?

• Is there sufficient clarity regarding the post-EU exit regulatory environment within Scotland and how it relates to the rest of the UK?

Adviser briefings

Constitutional options for Scotland briefing from Professor Michael Keating (Committee Adviser), 9 March 2023 (244KB, pdf) posted 21 September 2023

How is Devolution changing post EU briefing from Dr Christopher McCorkindale (Committee Adviser), 9 March 2023 (281KB, pdf) posted 21 September 2023

Report

The Committee wrote a letter to the Scottish Government and UK Government on the 25 May 2023.

The Scottish Government responded on the 26 June 2023 (258KB, pdf) posted 31 July 2023

The United Kingdom Government responded on the 4 September 2023 (2MB, pdf) posted 19 March 2024

The Committee then published its report on How Devolution is Changing post-EU on 24 October 2023

The Scottish Government responded to the report on 21 December 2023 (191KB, pdf) posted 08 January 2024

The United Kingdom Government responded to the report on 23 January 2024 (3MB, pdf) posted 24 January 2024

Your views

The call for views closed on 30 November 2022. 

Read the responses