Nicola’s warning to PM ahead of ‘crucial’ talks
NICOLA STURGEON ramped up the rhetoric on Brexit last night, warning the Prime Minister to “heed the voice of Scotland”.
The First Minister warned Theresa May not to sweep aside the Scottish Government’s plan to keep Scotland in the single market at a “crucial” meeting of the Joint Ministerial Committee (JMC) in Cardiff tomorrow.
Ms Sturgeon said the meeting was “one of the most important since the result of the EU referendum seven months ago”.
“It comes at a crucial juncture, with the clock ticking down to the triggering of Article 50 and with, so far, no sign whatsoever that the UK Government is taking Scotland’s position remotely seriously,” she said.
“The JMC meeting in Cardiff is another chance for the Prime Minister to heed the voice of Scotland and those of the other devolved governments – and she must take the opportunity to do so.”
Opposition parties have accused the SNP of stoking up division in the wake of the Brexit vote to pave the way for a second independence referendum.
But Ms Sturgeon’s Brexit Minister, Mike Russell, told a conference in Glasgow there was “not the slightest shred of evidence” the UK would benefit from global trading opportunities post-Brexit.
He said: “Scotland has not chosen an approach that will in actual fact mean cutting ourselves off, and it hasn’t chosen an approach based on no evidence at all.
“There is not the slightest shred of evidence that these so-called global trading opportunities can be found.”
Ms Strugeon said Brexit would make a fresh referendum “more likely” but insisted her proposal to keep Scotland in the single market represented a “significant compromise”.
She said: “Those compromise proposals are formally on the agenda for the JMC meeting, and so the Prime Minister tomorrow has a chance to show she is serious about her pledge to properly consider those proposals.
“So far, the Tories’ words on respecting Scotland’s voice and the UK being a partnership of equals have amounted to nothing more than empty rhetoric.
“But the Prime Minister should be in no doubt that time is fast running out for her to show that Scotland’s needs and interests can be accommodated through the UK Brexit process.”
A spokesman for the UK Government said the Prime Minister would consider the Scottish Government’s plans alongside others set out by the Welsh administration and Plaid Cymru.
He said: “We have been determined from the start that the devolved administrations should be fully engaged as we form the UK’s negotiating position for leaving the EU. The JMC process gives Scottish Government ministers direct access to the UK Government.
“All proposals from the devolved administrations are being studied carefully.”