Sturgeon: PM’s Chequers Brexit plan is ‘unravelling’
THERESA May’s new blueprint setting out the UK future relationship with the European Union does not go far enough to protect Scotland “in any real way from the damage of Brexit”, Constitutional Relations Secretary Mike Russell has warned.
Mr Russell said the proposals, agreed after a Cabinet meeting at Chequers, were a “step in the right direction”.
But he also questioned whether the proposals, which will see the UK tied to EU rules on goods, would be acceptable to remaining EU member states and to hardline Brexiteers within the Conservative Party.
He spoke out after First Minister Nicola Sturgeon tweeted that “it hasn’t taken long for the #chequers plan to start to unravel”.
The SNP leader said on Twitter: “It simply underlines fact that if UK is leaving the EU (which I wish it wasn’t) the only workable solution is to stay in single market and customs union.
“As I said yesterday, it’s very much ‘game on’ for that now.”
All members of the UK Cabinet have signed up to the proposals, but backbench Brexiteers have been more critical, with speculation at Westminster that some could be prepared to submit formal letters calling for a leadership contest.
Meanwhile, it emerged Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson backed the proposals at Chequers despite claiming defending the plans was like “polishing a turd” during the meeting.
Mr Russell described the plans as being a “step towards” continuing membership of the EU single market and customs union - the Scottish Government’s preferred position.
He said: “The two issues here are will it be accepted, and I think there are things in it that are not acceptable to the EU and I think that is going to require further negotiation.
“This is a start, not a finish.”
He also noted there was “a great deal of muttering” about the proposals from the “extreme Brexiteers” in the Tory Party and others.
However, Scottish Conservative deputy leader Jackson Carlaw accused the First Minister and her party of “undermining Scotland’s best chance of a deal with the EU”.
Mr Carlaw said: “Having said Theresa May could never get her Cabinet to agree a position to deliver a pragmatic Brexit, Nicola Sturgeon now finds herself outflanked by a united UK Government negotiating position and she just can’t stand it.”