'LAST week saw a momentous vote in the Scottish Parliament with a united front being shown by the SNP, Labour, Lib Dems and Greens, leaving the Tories isolated in their defence of the Westminster Government’s dreadful handling of Brexit.

The Scottish Government has put forward two proposals to ensure the Bill respects devolution – remove the legislative constraint on the Parliament and proceed on the basis of mutual trust, or amend the Bill so that the Scottish Parliament’s consent is required before any orders restricting its powers are made. It is now incumbent on the UK Government to amend the Bill in line with the principles of devolution.

The Scottish Parliament has made it overwhelmingly and explicitly clear that the current EU Withdrawal Bill as it stands is not acceptable. It must now not be imposed.

The UK Government are asking the Scottish Parliament to trust that they will not take powers without our consent, yet if they fail to amend this Bill after Parliament has refused consent they will have demonstrated exactly why the current proposals cannot be approved.

Meanwhile, in other Brexit-related news this week, the planned publication was announced of a White Paper setting out its Brexit position. That they, themselves, describe this as being the UK Government’s "most significant publication on the EU" since the 2016 referendum says nearly all we need to know about the back to front way in which this whole process has been handled by Theresa May’s Government and why the Scottish Parliament has not been prepared to simply trust them to do the ‘right thing’.

According to David Davis, the Tories Brexit Secretary, the White Paper will include "detailed, ambitious and precise explanations” of Government positions. Well, about time too! Though I’ll believe it when I see it!

We are told that this UK White Paper will be published ahead of the EU Summit in June and will be more than a 100 pages long. Worryingly a source inside the UK cabinet apparently told the BBC that it would "allow the UK to go and actually negotiate".

No wonder it feels like they have been twiddling their thumbs! What on earth have they been doing until now?

It is utterly astonishing the extent to which this massive constitutional upheaval is being built on no foundations whatsoever. Let us not forget that in the run-up – the run-up, mark you – to the Scottish Independence Referendum, the Scottish Government published a White Paper that ran to over 600 pages. Now, whether or not you agreed with the proposal, you certainly can’t say that it wasn’t thought through.

The clock is ticking and we need urgent action from Westminster that respects the position of the Scottish Parliament and the devolution settlement the people of Scotland voted for'.