A year to go.. but is Scotland prepared?
● Theresa May in unity pledge on milestone day amid SNP warnings
British people will wake up a year from today in a “strong and united country”, Theresa May pledged as she marks the final countdown to Brexit by visiting each of the four nations, starting in Scotland.
The Prime Minister will kick off a listening tour with a visit to textile workers at a factory in Ayrshire, and underlined her commitment to “protect the integrity of the UK as a whole” amid an ongoing dispute with devolved administrations over new powers.
But as she travelled to Scotland last night, Mrs May was personally accused by the SNP of being the “block” to a deal and failing to understand devolution.
In exactly 12 months, the UK will be outside the European Union for the first time in 46 years, with Brexit taking effect at midnight on 28 March, 2019. Mrs May said leaving the EU must be “a success for everyone” whether they voted Leave or Remain. Her bid to heal divisions caused by the 2016 EU referendum comes as polls suggest voters are still split down the middle over whether or not Brexit is the right thing to do.
“I am determined that as we leave the EU, and in the years ahead, we will strengthen the bonds that unite us, because ours is the world’s most successful Union,” the Prime Minister said.
“The UK contains four proud and historic nations, but together we amount to so much more than the sum of our parts and our Union is an enormous force for good.”
Mrs May promised that “powers will return from Brussels to the parliaments and assemblies of the UK, closer to the people we all serve” as a result of Brexit. But she insisted that she has an “absolute responsibility to protect the integrity of the United Kingdom as a whole”.
“That means ensuring that no new barriers are created within our common domestic market and that the UK is able to meet its international obligations in the future. No Prime Minister could leave these things to chance, because they are absolutely crucial to our success as a country in the future.”
Both the Scottish and Welsh parliaments have passed continuity legislation, challenging the constitutional authority of Westminster to ‘freeze’ certain powers returning from Brussels that could affected internal and external trade.
UK law officers are expected to announce they will challenge the continuity bills in the Supreme Court by mid-april.
Last night the SNP’S Westminster leader Ian Blackford said responsibility for the UK government’s failure to reach a deal over new powers rests with Mrs May.
“The Prime Minister is coming up to Scotland with a year to leaving the EU, and the fact we can’t get a reasoned agreement between London and the devolved nations is not great,” Mr Blackford said. “The block to that is the Prime Minister, I’ll be that specific.
“It’s the PM who is not recognising she is standing in the face of the Scotland Act 1998, that is very clear about what are devolved and what are reserved matters.”