Independent Scotland would need border ‘great wall of Gretna’

An independent Scotland that is part of the European Union will need to build a "great wall of Gretna" at the border with England, the UK immigration minister has claimed.

Home Office minister Kevin Foster used a visit to Scotland to speak out against the SNP'S flagship goal of independence.

He said an independent Scotland part of the Schengen scheme, which permits free travel without passport checks between European nations, would necessitate the construction of a hard border between Scotland and England.

He challenged Nicola Sturgeon's party to "start being upfront about the impact of some of their policies".

Speaking to journalists duringhisvisittolinlithgow,west

Lothian, and other parts of the country, he said: "If they wanted Scotland to join Schengen that does mean a hard border, it means building a great wall of Gretna."

Rather than "debating the philosophical future" of the country with another independence referendum something the SNP wants to hold before the next Holyrood election - Mr Foster said Scotland's governing party should be "getting on with the day job" of dealing with coronavirus and the recovery from the pandemic.

He was dismissive of Scottish Government calls for more powers over immigration to be devolved to Holyrood, saying: "We're very clear that we need to have a migration system that works for the whole of the United Kingdom.

"What I am not interested in doing is creating passport control at Berwick. The UK operates as a single market despite the SNP'S thoughts on this.

"It's always interesting to hear the SNP talking about wanting to rejoin the EU if they achieve their goal of separation, but they are quiet about what that would mean in terms of rejoining the Common Fisheries Policy, potentially joining the euro, what it could mean around Schengen.

"We're coming out of an extraordinary period of a pandemic, our minds really should be focused on recovery, getting people back to work.”

An SNP spokesman said: "People are fed up with Tory ministers coming here on day trips spouting nonsense as part of their campaign to tighten Westminster control over Scotland.”