The Scexit Files
Indie plans will ‘de-prioritise’ key services, reveals dossier by our top civil servant... but, guess what, SNP didn’t want you to read it
A RENEWED push to tear Scotland out of the UK could come at the expense of public services, secret ‘Scexit files’ have revealed.
In documents the SNP tried to hide, Scotland’s top civil servant warned First Minister Nicola Sturgeon her plans for another independence referendum would lead to a ‘de-prioritisation’ of other government activity.
Opponents said it provides evidence that services such as schools and hospitals will suffer from the SNP stepping up another bid to break up Britain.
The briefing note from Permanent Secretary Leslie Evans to Miss Sturgeon also confirms that, ahead of another referendum, civil servants would develop plans for the transition to a separate state.
In response to a Freedom of Information request from the Scottish Tories, the Government published a redacted version of the note in September 2018, with key details blanked out.
Other requested documents were not published. The Government argued that making the information public could inhibit ministers and officials when discussing options in a ‘private space’.
The Conservatives challenged this and Scottish Information Commissioner Darren Fitzhenry ruled last month that the Government must publish it in full. The watchdog said that ministers were correct to withhold some items of information but ‘wrongly withheld’ others.
Scottish Tory interim leader Jackson Carlaw said: ‘The SNP tried to keep this document under wraps and it’s clear why. These Scexit files show that delivering Nicola Sturgeon’s referendum on independence won’t just divide our country all over again, it will push your school, your local hospital and your high street to the back of the queue. She said it would be once in a generation. It turns out it’s been every hour of every day since she lost. It’s a complete betrayal of the 2014 vote.’
Mrs Evans wrote the briefing note for Miss Sturgeon, and also sent it to Deputy First Minister John Swinney and Finance Secretary Derek Mackay, on March 29, 2017, two weeks after the First Minister had demanded the power to hold another referendum and one day after the SNP and Greens united at Holyrood to vote for it.
In the document she said civil servants would ensure ministers get the ‘necessary advice and support’ to develop and implement their plan to leave the UK.
Officials will, Mrs Evans added, develop ‘robust plans to ensure our readiness to implement either outcome of the referendum’, including ‘transition planning for moving to an independent Scotland’.
But, warning of the impact of Brexit and a separation referendum on other government business, Mrs Evans said: ‘We will continue our work to ensure that we are using the resources of the civil service to maximum effect and to identify where we see scope for de-prioritisation of activity and essential augmentation of skills or capacity – which would be made necessary by Brexit, notwithstanding the decision on the referendum.’
A spokesman for Constitutional Relations Secretary Mike Russell said the Government had been ‘entirely open about the fact we are preparing for a referendum’ and ‘the only thing revealed here’ was the Tories’ ‘utter panic’ about it.
Pamela Nash, of the Scotland in Union campaign group, said the ‘bombshell’ documents reveal that another referendum ‘would be a huge distraction for the civil service, meaning services such as schools and hospitals would be neglected’.
A spokesman for the Scottish Government said: ‘As this information clearly related to the formulation and development of Government policy it was withheld. The Commissioner agreed this information related to the formulation of policy, but decided on balance that disclosure was in the public interest.’
The spokesman added that Scotland has the most open, far-reaching freedom of information laws in the UK, and ministers ‘co-operate fully’ with the Commissioner.