Westminster is ‘in denial’ over Brexit and the single market, claims Sturgeon
NICOLA Sturgeon yesterday accused the UK Government of ‘denying reality’ over Brexit, insisting Theresa May’s position on leaving the single market is ‘unsustainable’.
The First Minister claimed Mrs May will ‘sooner or later’ have to concede that the UK must remain in a customs union after Britain leaves the EU.
She said that was the ‘only credible and sustainable’ option, insisting supporters ‘should not give up hope on the single market’.
Her intervention came after a meeting with the EU’s chief Brexit negotiator Michel Barnier.
Mr Barnier has previously insisted that he would not negotiate with the Scottish Government, as the UK is the European Union member state.
The final Brexit deal is still to be agreed, but Miss Sturgeon claimed the Prime Minister was being easily led by some senior Tories, such as Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson, who believe leaving the EU should mean no further access to the single market or customs union.
But Miss Sturgeon branded them ‘mad Brexiteers’ insisting that maintaining these relationships was in the country’s best interest.
In an interview with website Politico, Miss Sturgeon said: ‘I was very clear with Michel Barnier this morning that I wanted to see not just Scotland but the UK as a whole remaining within the single market. That’s the position the Scottish Government has taken all along.
‘Staying in the customs union is in Scotland’s interest, but it is not just in Scotland’s interest.
‘In my very, very strong view it is in the interest of the whole of the UK to stay in the customs union, it [the UK Government] would be cutting off their nose to spite their face if they turned their back on that.’
The SNP leader argued that a customs union was important to prevent the return to a hard border in Northern Ireland but added that without similar arrangements for Scotland, it could be left at a ‘competitive disadvantage’.
Miss Sturgeon said: ‘All of this takes us back, I think the only credible and sustainable option here is for the UK to remain within a customs union.
‘It’s a question of whether they concede that now or are forced to concede that later.
‘If they concede it now, we might start to see some progress in these talks. That would be better than waiting till later.’
While Mrs May has ruled out keeping the UK in the single market and customs union after Brexit, the First Minister insisted that in this regard ‘the Government’s position is unsustainable’.
And she added there was still ‘reason to be hopeful that is something that can be achieved’.
Miss Sturgeon said: ‘I don’t think anybody who is in favour of this at home should be giving up on the single market and customs union options.’
Opponents launched a scathing attack on Miss Sturgeon after she claimed during the interview that the EU single market was eight times bigger than the UK’s.
Scottish Conservative MSP Annie Wells said: ‘It’s plainly misleading to talk of the European single market in this way.
‘The SNP Government’s own figures prove that the importance of the UK single market – the very one the Nationalists want to destroy – is four times more important than the EU.’
Scottish Labour Brexit spokesman Neil Findlay said: ‘It is welcome that Nicola Sturgeon agrees with the case outlined by Jeremy Corbyn for a customs union relationship between the EU and UK.
‘But, the complexities of withdrawing from a 40-year-old political union between the EU and UK surely expose the weakness of the case for ending Scotland’s 300year relationship with the rest of the UK.’
‘In interests of UK to stay in customs union’