Fresh call to give Scotland seat at the Brexit table

● Blackford says leaving single market will do “unparalleled” damage as Davis sparks a fresh row with Irish government

Prime Minister Theresa May must bring the first ministers of Scotland and Wales into the next phase of Brexit talks and commit to staying in the EU’S single market and customs union, the SNP’S leader at Westminster has said.

Ian Blackford’s call came as UK ministers sparked a row with the Irish government and the EU after they suggested an agreement struck only last week to break the deadlock in negotiations was not legally binding. They also said it could be abandoned in the event of a “no deal” Brexit.

Prime Minister Theresa May must bring the first ministers of Scotland and Wales into the next phase of negotiations with the European Union and commit to staying in the single market and customs union, the SNP’S leader at Westminster has said.

The call from Ian Blackford came as UK ministers sparked a new clash with the Irish government and the EU by sug- gesting a deal struck only last week to break the deadlock in Brexit talks is not legally binding, and will be abandoned in the event of a “no deal” Brexit.

David Davis warned that the “divorce” agreement struck last week, including a financial settlement with the EU of more than £35 billion, would only apply if trade talks are successful. The Brexit Secretary said he was seeking a “Canada plus plus plus” deal that adds access to services to the CETA agreement signed by Ottawa and Brussels last year.

Mr Blackford said the UK’S commitment to “full alignment” with EU regulations as part of a deal to keep the Irish border open meant the government would eventually have to concede remaining within the single market.

Speaking on the BBC’S Andrewmarrprogramme,mr Blackford challenged Labour to support the SNP’S calls for continued membership of the single market to avoid “unparalleled” economic damage.

UK ministers refused calls from the Scottish and Welsh governments to be directly involved in the first phase of Brexit negotiations. Mr Blackford said devolved administrations had to have a greater role in the second phase of negotiations to avoid the kind of disagreements over the Irish border that nearly blocked last week’s breakthrough.

“We can see the difficulty she has got into over Ireland. What the Prime Minister should do is pull the first ministers of Scotland and Wales into these negotiations.

“She’s also got to understand that the people in Scotland and in Northern Ireland voted to remain in the EU and we’re asking for her to respect the wishes of the Scottish people and the Scottish Government, who have made it clear that we should be staying in the single market and customs union.”

He added: “It’s about the living standards of people postbrexit. What we have now is a situation where the UK has signed up to have full convergence with [the Republic of ] Ireland and the rest of Europe.

“It’s the ‘how’ bit of that that’s important. What I’m saying to the Prime Minister and everyone else is that the single market and the customs union is the path to doing that.”

Meanwhile, Mr Davis and the Northern Ireland Secretary James Brokenshire both called into question the agreement reached last week, with the Brexit Secretary saying it was “conditional on an outcome”.

Mr Davis appeared to contradict comments by Chancellor Philip Hammond, who has said it was “inconceivable” that the UK would not pay its multi-billion-pound Brexit bill even if trade talks fail.

“No deal means that we won’t be paying the money,” he said, adding: “This was a statement of intent more than anything else. Much more a statement of intent than it was a legally enforceable thing.”

The Irish government’s chief whip, Joe Mchugh, branded the Brexit Secretary’s comments as “bizarre”. He said: “We will as a government, a sovereign government in Ireland, be holding the United Kingdom to account, as will the European Union.

“My question to anybody within the British government would be, why would there be an agreement, a set of principled agreements, in order to get to phase two if they weren’t going to be held up? That just sounds bizarre to me. This, as far as we’re concerned, is a binding agreement, an agreement in principle.”

EU leaders have yet to approve the move to the second phase of talks, which will be voted on in Brussels this week. A draft text due to be approved by members states says “negotiations in the second phase can only progress as long as all commitments undertaken during the first phase are respected in full and translated faithfully in legal terms as quickly as possible”.