Brexit fallout
Ruth Davidson says businesses are the priority But Ukip says controlling UK borders is key Sturgeon in touch with PM over incomers
RUTH Davidson last night demanded there should be no limits to immigration, in a bid to protect Scottish businesses.
The Scottish Tory leader has fired a shot across the bows of Prime Ministerial hopefuls in her party, by warning access to the EU single market should be the priority in future negotiation.
Following the vote to leave the EU, there has been speculation the UK could pursue a Norway-style deal. That would guarantee unfettered access to the single market, while also requiring freedom of movement and an annual contribution to Brussels.
But her comments will infuriate those who voted Leave to ‘take back control’ of Britain’s borders.
David Coburn MEP, Ukip’s only elected politician in Scotland, said yesterday: ‘Freedom of movement is non-negotiable. She obviously does not give a damn about what the majority of people in the UK voted for.’
Speaking on Sunday Politics Scotland, Miss Davidson said: ‘One of the reasons I campaigned for Remain was I wanted Scotland’s businesses to be part of a wider free trade area, both in the EU and UK. I need to chart a course where we stay in both of these.’
She added: ‘I want to stay in the single market even if a consequence of that is free movement of labour.’
Miss Davidson was a star performer in the Remain campaign, winning plaudits for the blows she landed on Boris Johnson in a UK-wide TV debate.
She admitted she was ‘devastated’ when it was announced the UK had decided to leave, in the early hours of Friday, June 24.
With 62 per cent of Scots voting to Remain, but facing being pulled out against their will, Nicola Sturgeon has claimed a second independence referendum is now ‘highly likely’.
Miss Davidson said that is premature but admitted: ‘Constitutionally, the UK Government shouldn’t block it.’
She said she had already held talks with the five leadership contenders but refused to say who she is backing, despite being known to be a close ally of Scotsborn Work and Pensions Secretary Stephen Crabb.
Miss Sturgeon is likely to present the next referendum as a choice between two unions – the EU and UK – but her rival believes it will be a hard sell, and the economic consequences of Brexit will make it harder for independence campaigners to dismiss warnings as ‘Project Fear’ scaremongering.
Miss Davidson said: ‘She will be saying do you want to leave your biggest market, or do you want to leave your second biggest market. Do you want to change your currency, do you want a hard border with your nearest neighbour.
‘Nobody now will believe you can have huge constitutional change without an enormous economic impact. And people should be aware of that.’
Since the Brexit vote on June 23, Miss Sturgeon has flown to Brussels for talks with Martin Schulz, president of the European Parliament, and JeanClaude Juncker, president of the European Commission.
However, she was shunned by the more influential Donald Tusk, president of the European Council, while member states have dismissed a separate Scottish deal.
Miss Sturgeon hopes that Scotland could stay in the EU, even as the UK leaves, but that looks increasingly unlikely.
Yesterday, she turned her attention to the EU citizens already in the Scotland, calling in a letter to the Prime Minister for guarantees on their right to remain.
Miss Sturgeon said: ‘Scotland voted overwhelmingly to stay in Europe, yet citizens of EU countries who live, work and contribute to our country are anxious and uncertain about what the UK referendum result means for them and their families.
‘People from EU countries are an important part of Scotland’s future. I am therefore seeking immediate guarantees from the Prime Minister, and all Conservative leadership candidates, that the residency status and the other existing rights of the 173,000 EU nationals living in Scotland will remain unchanged, now or in the future.’
The former shadow home secretary Yvette Cooper made a similar appeal for all EU citizens living in the UK.
In Scotland, the summer was already due to see the SNP relaunch its campaign for independence.
The Scottish Tories have said they will run a counter campaign talking about the positive benefits of the Union.
Miss Sturgeon has instructed officials to prepare legislation for a second referendum to be held within the two-year divorce period that will start when the UK Government triggers Article 50 on leaving the EU.
Alex Salmond said he believed ‘in my guts’ that there would be a second independence vote. He denied that the SNP had failed to secure a mandate by not including an explicit commitment in their manifesto, and failing to win an outright majority at Holyrood.
Mr Salmond said yesterday: ‘She [Miss Sturgeon] has a mandate from May’s election. It was made quite clear that under these circumstances, if Scotland were to be dragged out against our will, then the Scottish parliament would be entitled to have another independence referendum.’
Henry McLeish, the former Labour First Minister, said he could join the separation campaign next time.
He said the Brexit vote was a ‘tipping point’ but admitted several problems would need to be overcome.
Asked if he would campaign for independence, Mr McLeish: ‘I see no problem in doing that.’
He added: ‘We’re not ready for independence, even if that was a reality. We’ve got nation-building to do, questions over currency, deficit. The last thing we want to look forward to is a legacy of bitterness.’
Responding to Miss Davidson’s comments about a second referendum, a spokesman for the First Minister said: ‘This is a major and significant concession by the Scottish Conservative Party since the Scottish parliament elections less than 60 days ago, when they said they would stand against a second referendum and claimed there was no mandate for one.
‘Nevertheless, our focus as a government is on the negotiations that lie ahead, to protect Scotland’s relationship with the European Union and our place in the single market.’
‘I want to stay in the single market’