SNP ministers will insist Scotland has the “right to choose an alternative future” as they travel to London for talks with the UK Government over Brexit.
Constitutional Relations Secretary Mike Russell will take part in talks with UK Government ministers and counterparts from the Welsh administration.
It is the first meeting of the Joint Ministerial Council (JMC) on EU Negotiations since Boris Johnson won a majority in December’s general election, a vote which paves the way for the UK to formally quit the European Union at the end of this month.
But the meeting takes place the day after MSPs at Holyrood voted to reject the UK Withdrawal Agreement Bill by 92 to 29.
Mr Russell has already told MSPs that the relationship between Holyrood and Westminster is at a “low ebb” – and is deteriorating further – following Mr Johnson’s election victory.
Speaking ahead of Thursday’s discussions, he insisted: “The current hard deal Brexit proposed by the UK Government will impose significant damage on the people and economy of Scotland hitting employment and living standards.”
READ MORE: Holyrood rejects Brexit deal as constitutional crisis looms
Mr Russell argued: “Short of EU membership, it is in the best interests of Scotland to remain in the European single market and customs union – which is around eight times bigger than the UK market – to safeguard jobs and provide guarantees on workers’ rights and environmental standards.
“Despite our repeated efforts to discuss alternatives, our proposals have been ignored. The UK Government has repeatedly promised it would involve the devolved administrations, but has completely failed to do so.
“It is now imperative in the next phase of negotiations that the Scottish Government is given a proper and meaningful role.”
With Scotland having returned 47 SNP MPs after a campaign which Nicola Sturgeon said was focused on stopping Brexit, Mr Russell said that people north of the border had “voted overwhelmingly to stay in Europe” and that the the recent general election result “confirmed that view”.
Adding that the Scottish Parliament had now “voted comprehensively not to approve the Withdrawal Agreement Bill”, Mr Russell declared: “The UK Government must accept Scotland has a right to choose an alternative future.”
However when pressed on the issue of a second Scottish referendum at Prime Minister’s Questions on Wednesday, Mr Johnson restated his view that Scots had “voted decisively” in 2014 to stay in the UK in a “once in a generation choice”.
A UK Government spokesman said: “These claims are nonsense. We have worked extensively with the Scottish Government throughout the Brexit process and we will continue to do so.
“It is disappointing the Scottish Government continue to simply oppose Brexit rather than engage with us constructively.”
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereLast Updated:
Report this comment Cancel