SNP Brexit minister slams Government

THE SNP’s Brexit minister Mike Russell has accused the UK Government of going through the motions over the process to leave the EU.

In a letter to fellow SNP MSP Joan McAlpine, he said comments by Scottish secretary David Mundell suggested he “does not fully understand the process”.

Prime Minister Theresa May previously promised she would trigger Article 50, to formally start the process of leaving the EU, by the end of next month.

Mr Russell said: “There has been no commitment whatsoever from the UK Government that the views of the people of Scotland, the Scottish Parliament or the Scottish Government will be put forward as part of the negotiations with the EU.

“Mr Mundell was quoted as saying a workstream is looking ‘at whether there are other ways of encouraging people to Scotland which are not at heart either current freedom of movement within the EU or devolving immigration’. “That is simply not the case. “Discussions of this nature have not taken place.”