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Sunday 26 June 2016 5:08 pm

Welsh and Scottish first ministers clash over whether they should block Brexit

By: Jessica Morris

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The Welsh and Scottish first ministers have markedly different views over whether their parliaments should try to block the UK from leaving the European Union.

Asked whether she would consider asking Holyrood not to back such a motion of legislative consent, Scotland's first minister Nicola Sturgeon replied "of course".

"If the Scottish parliament was judging this on the basis of what's right for Scotland then the option of saying look we're not to vote for something that's against Scotland's interest, of course that's got to be on the table," she told the BBC.

But Welsh first minister Carwyn Jones has rejected the idea that members of the Welsh assembly should try to block Brexit, saying that if politicians tried to ignore the referendum outcomeit would only "worsen this current political crisis".

Read more: Iain Duncan Smith says new prime minister should be a Brexiteer

Constitutional law expert and conservative MSP, Adam Tomkins, tweeted that the Scottish parliament doesn't have the power to veto the UK's withdrawal.

​"Lots of nonsense on here about Holyrood having power to block or veto Brexit. It has no such power," he said.

"Holyrood has the power to show or to withhold its consent. But withholding consent is not the same as blocking."

Read more: European Union clarifies how Brexit will work

Sturgeon is already beginning preparations to hold a second referendum on Scottish independence before the end of 2018, following the Leave camp's triumph in the referendum.

Leave clinched a victory by 52 per cent to 48 per cent in the referendum on Thursday. The turnout stood at 71 per cent, the highest UK-wide vote since the 1992 general election.

Over two million people have signed a petition for a second referendum. However, experts have branded the move a "waste of time".

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