Brexit hotline ‘not so hot’, ministers complain

A ROW has broken out between the Scottish and UK Governments after claims that it took a day-and-a-half to get through to a minister on a new Brexit “hotline” were rubbished by London.

Nicola Sturgeon told MSPs that her Brexit minister, Michael Russell, had called the new telephone line on Tuesday morning but did not get to speak to his UK counterpart David Davis until Wednesday evening.

The offer of a “direct line” between the devolved administrations and Mr Davis was one of the few concessions granted to Ms Sturgeon at a meeting with Theresa May to discuss strategy for exiting the EU earlier this week.

Speaking at First Minister’s Questions, Ms Sturgeon said: “I can share with chamber today that Michael Russell’s office called that hotline just before midday on Tuesday. It took until after 6pm yesterday to actually get David Davis on the hotline, that’s 36 hours. So, yes, there is now a telephone line we can call, it’s just currently not very hot.”

Ms Sturgeon’s spokesman later said that “a series of calls and communications” had been made to Mr Davis’s office and department before the conversation eventually took place.

However, the version of events was disputed by both the Department for Exiting the European Union (DexEU) and Number 10.

A DexEU spokesman said: “This is not correct. The Scottish Government asked for a call to be arranged for yesterday morning and the Secretary of State spoke to Mike Russell later in the day.”

A Number 10 spokesman also rejected Ms Sturgeon’s account.