Robert Jenrick 'would not consult Scottish Government' on leaving European Convention on Human Rights

The UK Conservative leadership candidate said while he was pro-devolution, he would not give any more powers to Holyrood.

Mr Jenrick is up against Kemi Badenoch for the top job to succeed Rishi Sunak as leader of the Tories, and has set out his pitch to Scottish voters.

Part of his pitch is leaving the ECHR to make it easier to deport people. Leaving the convention would stop people being able to legally challenge their removal from the UK.

Signed back in 1950, the convention protects human rights and political freedoms across Europe.

However, Mr Jenrick said leaving the convention was a reserved matter and stressed he would therefore not ask the Scottish Parliament for legislative consent if the Conservatives were in power in Westminster.

He said: “It is a reserved matter. It is a national constitutional and legal question.

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“It is an established fact that it is a reserved matter, but absolutely I want to work with people across the UK.”

Concerns have since been raised that leaving the ECHR would impact on the Scotland Act and therefore on devolved areas of government.

The Scottish Government said the convention was the foundation of the devolution settlement, defining the powers of both the government and the Scottish Parliament.

A spokesperson said the Government would “firmly oppose” any attempts to leave the ECHR.

In an interview with the BBC, Mr Jenrick said he would not devolve any more powers to Holyrood and rejected the idea of a separate Scottish work visa.

He said: “I don’t support that. It’s impractical - you can’t ask someone to come to this country for a job in Edinburgh and then prevent them from moving to a job in Newcastle a few months down the line.

“It is unnecessary. Unemployment in Scotland is not so different from the rest of the UK.

“We need proper policy on skills and jobs, and more work from both governments on this.”

Earlier this month SNP MP Stephen Gethins tabled a Bill in Westminster to amend the Scotland Act to allow for a separate Scottish workers’ visa, citing the “demographic challenges” facing Scotland’s labour market.

The new Labour government has since ruled out introducing such a visa.

During his interview, Mr Jenrick said he would like to see more oil fields in the North Sea developed like Rosebank and Jackdaw, claimed domestic oil would be needed during the transition to green energy.

However, he blamed the new Labour government for the closure of the Grangemouth oil refinery rather than the previous Conservative administration, which had been in charge for 14 years.

Petroineos is due to close the only oil refinery in Scotland next year and transform it into a fuel import terminal, potentially risking hundreds of jobs.

Mr Jenrick said: “The issue of Grangemouth is we have an international business facing a decision at board level as to whether to invest a large amount of money in upgrading the facility.

“They’ve looked at the new government and decided there is a hostile environment towards the industry and will not make an investment. We will never know what would have happened if there was a Conservative government in place.

“I think the fundamental issue of Grangemouth, or across the industry, is there is a Labour government that has created a hostile environment to oil and gas - that has to change.”

So far only two Scottish Conservative MPs have publicly backed Mr Jenrick - John Lamont and John Cooper - and no MSPs have come out in support of his campaign.

Three MSPs have publicly backed his opponent, Ms Badenoch, including Scottish Tory leadership runner-up Murdo Fraser.

The SNP has said it is “no surprise” Mr Jenrick has “no respect” for the Scottish Parliament.

Kenneth Gibson MSP said: “As someone who was part of a Tory government which repeatedly undermined democracy and ran roughshod over devolution during their time in power, it comes as no surprise that Mr Jenrick has no respect for the Scottish Parliament.

“After dragging Scotland out of the EU against our will, the Internal Market Act was used as a power grab by the Tories to effectively rewrite devolved laws passed by the Scottish Parliament.

“It’s therefore alarming but unsurprising that Mr Jenrick is willing to go even further, and leave the ECHR without giving Scotland a say - and the SNP will oppose these plans every step of the way.

“The Scottish Tories now need to immediately distance themselves from their would-be leader’s attack on the fundamentals of devolution.”