The Press and Journal (Aberdeen and Aberdeenshire)
Devolved administrations set to have a say
Europe: Forum for Union partners
Theresa May has offered to involve Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland in regular formal talks on the Brexit process in an effort to quell concern about her handling of the situation.
Downing Street said Mrs May will tell the leaders of the devolved administrations concerned about a possible “hard Brexit” that final decisions about her approach had not yet been taken and “how the UK leaves the EU will not boil down to a binary choice”.
Mrs May will come under pressure from Scottish First Minister Nicola Sturgeon, Welsh counterpart Carwyn Jones and Northern Ireland’s leader Arlene Foster and her deputy, Mart inMc Guinness, at a meeting in D owning Street.
The devolved administrations are keen to secure continued participation in the single market and want to hold votes on Mrs May’s approach before she trig- gers Article 50, formally beginning the Brexit process.
The prime minister has offered them a “direct line” to Brexit Secretary David Davis, who will chair a new forum bringing together representatives from Westminster, Holyrood, Cardiff Bay and Stormont for regular talks on the situation.
Mrs May is hosting the first meeting of the Joint Ministerial Council (JMC) since 2014 today.
Officials insisted she was “ready to listen to proposals” by the first ministers.
Mrs May said: “I am determined that as wemake a success of our exit from the European Union, we in turn further strengthen our own enduring union.
“The country is facing a negotiation of tremendous importance and it is imperative that the devolved administrations play their part in making it work.”
If the devolved governments agree, a new subcommittee of the JMC chaired by Mr Davis would hold its first meeting by the end of November and at least one more by Christmas as negotiations progress before Article 50 is triggered by the end of March 2017.
But leaders in Wales and Scotland have called for the UK Parliament and the three devolved legislatures to be given their own votes on the negotiating position the government intends to take and said Article 50 should not be triggered until there is an agreed approach.