SNP threat to block Brexit unless it gets a seat at talks

BRITAIN is locked in a new constitutional stand-off which threatens to derail Brexit.

SNP leaders yesterday issued a threat that they could seek to block Brexit unless they get to negotiate Britain’s exit from the EU with Brussels leaders.

UK ministers rejected their demands and said any move by the SNP to vote down the legislation would damage Scotland’s farming and fisheries industries.

UK Environment Secretary Michael Gove held crunch talks on the issue with SNP Environment Secretary Roseanna Cunningham and Rural Economy Secretary Fergus Ewing in Edinburgh. Afterwards, he said he had been given an assurance that the Scottish Government wants to ‘work constructively’.

However, Ian Blackford, the SNP’s leader at Westminster, insisted MSPs could reject a Legislative Consent Motion – to allow Westminster to pass legislation on a devolved issue – unless the UK Government agrees to ‘compromise’ by letting SNP ministers join the team negotiating Britain’s exit from the EU.

The Scottish parliament is to be asked to give consent before MPs vote on whether to pass the UK Government’s Repeal Bill, giving MSPs a potential veto on the legislation. They could also get a say on separate legislation on agriculture and fisheries powers post-Brexit.

Mr Blackford said the SNP would be willing to ‘compromise’ by approving an LCM in return for a place in the talks.

Speaking on BBC Radio 4’s Today programme, he said: ‘I’d say to Theresa May and her government there needs to be a meeting of the joint ministerial committee, so the parliament in London meeting with the governments of Belfast, of Edinburgh and Cardiff. And it is right that the Scottish Government should be represented at the talks in Brussels.’

Asked if the SNP would vote down the LCM unless the UK Government changes its tack, Mr Blackford said: ‘(The veto) is there but I’m not talking about that, but about the spirit of compromise.’

However, Scottish Secretary David Mundell rejected any prospect of the Scottish Government being involved in direct talks with Brussels.

He said: ‘The UK is the member state of the EU and the UK Government will be conducting the negotiations.’

On the issue of an LCM, he said: ‘It would be incredible that the Scottish parliament would turn down a measure that would bring the body of European law into Scots law and decline additional powers and responsibilities.’

MORE proof emerged yesterday of the parallel universe the SNP now inhabits following its disastrous General Election performance.

Describing the Scottish Government’s relations with Westminster over Brexit, Nationalist MP Ian Blackford said ‘we are actually trying to be reasonable’ by telling the Tories that ‘respect cuts both ways’.

But in the same interview he made clear the SNP was prepared to veto the Brexit legislation unless Scotland was represented during negotiations in Brussels.

The two positions are irreconcilable: if the Nationalists are genuinely committed to making the UK’s withdrawal from the EU work, why are they constantly threatening to derail the entire process?

Brexit Minister Mike Russell has insisted that independence should remain on the table during Brexit discussions – almost as if he had forgotten the catastrophic losses the SNP suffered in the General Election.

He said: ‘What hasn’t changed in the last 12 months is that the Scottish Government believes – and continues to believe – that the best future for Scotland would be as an independent nation within the European Union.’ How many SNP voters agree with Mr Russell’s obstinacy, given that about a third of them voted for Brexit?

Cementing the impression of a party that has its fingers firmly in its ears, Nicola Sturgeon is preparing to make yet another statement on Indyref 2 next week.

A million Scots voted for Brexit, but since the EU referendum a year ago Miss Sturgeon has refused to recognise that Scotland is anything other than a nation of unquestioning Europhiles.

Yes, Theresa May must ensure that the Scottish parliament benefits from the repatriation of powers from the EU.

But the SNP mustn’t be allowed to hijack the complex talks that lie ahead to fuel its own constitutional battle.