“Unfortunately the Scottish Conservatives appear to have struck the same Faustian pact with electoral nationalism that Scottish Labour did before them, and are rowing in behind the devocrat bid to wreck the bill at both Westminster and Holyrood, despite the long-term danger this poses to the Union.”

I’m terribly sorry Hendry but we tried sticking our head in the ground and pretending devolution never happened and that didn’t work out too well.

And a great power,

The crofting grants and similar aid to these communities currently operates within a framework of EU competition law, so that there could never be a case where the HIE was able to by virtue of these subsidies to undercut other producers within the EU common market.

If all powers that the EU holds in devolved areas were immediately given to Holyrood they would gain significant ones in the area of competition law, this would have implications for the UK single market.

Surely the integrity of the UK’s internal market demands that Scottish Ministers cannot develop a policy of industrial subsidy at odds with that of Westminster, if all EU powers within devolved areas are immediately devolved as the SNP expect how can that be achieved.

We can have another Scotland act in a few years after Brexit and choose what is in the best interests of Scotland and the UK to devolve then, instead of simply giving into SNP demands to devolve everything now as a very dubious "right".

Honestly the Tory core vote in Scotland are motivated more by unionism, while supportive of a develoved parliament they are not hugely politically motivated for or against these powers.

Even the stakeholders most affected by this fishermen and farmers just want competently run fisheries and agricultural policy - and the SNP do not have a great track record in this area by their virulent crusade to rejoin the EU they would put fishing communities back into the CFP (Common Fisheries Policy, which if your not aware has managed to make CAP look like a well oiled machine) and for the last two years the SNP has been late handling EU grants to farmers through CAP.

So there are competency questions about the SNP that are legitimate, Wales I dont know about. But there is the wider issue of the UK internal market, Scottish agriculture is predominantly export based overwhelmingly to the RUK. If subsidies were substantially different on either side of the border, not only would it be hugely unfair but would create political incentives for ever increasing subsidies. If the argument to not devolve is based on the principle of not compromising the UK internal market and its access for Scottish producers it may very well be successful.

As for the "spirit of devolution", the current arrangement is that the UK is in a multilateral organisation to which we cede some of our sovereignty (eg independent agricultural and fisheries policy) in exchange for a say in how other countries do so.

That is an aspect of foreign policy and as such is reserved, the only role for devolved governments within this framework is to manage implementation according to national needs and in areas eg land reform that fall outside of this framework. This would not change.

The point is that there are similar trends, populism, a rejection of internationalism, the decline of traditional media etc

Brexit was a precursor only in that it happened beforehand and demonstrated these phenomenon

The difference is that of consent and it is vast

Differential pricing makes sense to engage different groups if you set the bar too high with a single price system - then you exclude many (especially students who if used right can be a good activist base).

No we removed trade sanction in exchange for them stopping their nuclear program.

But they haven't stopped their ICBM program and continue to support the Syrian regime, Hezbollah and the Hadi rebels in Yeman.

So friends I would not say. Not that the Saudis are any better.