Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland should expect a "significant increase" in powers for their administrations post-Brexit, David Davis has said.

The Brexit Secretary was pressed by Labour to guarantee that the UK's withdrawal from the EU would not be used as an "excuse to hoard powers in Whitehall".

Mr Davis gave the assurance to the devolved nations as he outlined how the Westminster Government intends to oversee the conversion of EU law onto the UK statute.

The Tory frontbencher also asserted the importance of keeping the UK's internal market together in the face of renewed calls for another Scottish independence referendum.

The Herald:

Speaking in the Commons, shadow Brexit secretary Sir Keir Starmer said: "Brexit should not be an excuse to hoard powers in Whitehall.

"There has to be a heavy presumption that devolved matters remain devolved as powers and responsibilities transfer from the EU to the UK."

Mr Davis, in his reply, said: "No powers currently exercised by them will be taken away. We've said that time and again.

"We also expect there to be a significant increase in the powers exercised by the devolved administrations.

"But I say this - we have to maintain the United Kingdom internal market too.

"That is four times as important to Scottish businesses, for example, as the European market.

"It's incredibly important to Northern Irish and Welsh businesses too, and the administrations understand that.

"But we will be having discussions with them at length - we've already started - about how we exercise this, and I'm very happy to talk to him directly about the matter if that is useful to him."