Don’t wreck UK-wide deal over Brexit, Sturgeon told
Indyref threat isn’t bluff, she says PM warns her that unity is vital
THERESA May yesterday warned Nicola Sturgeon not to ‘undermine’ efforts to secure a good Brexit deal for the UK.
The warning was issued as the Prime Minister rejected SNP calls to provide a separate deal for Scotland and allow Holyrood a vote on the final Brexit negotiating package.
After the crunch meeting between Mrs May and leaders of the devolved administrations, Miss Sturgeon warned she ‘is not bluffing’ about the threat of an independ understands ence referendum if Scotland is forced to accept a ‘hard Brexit’.
But Mrs May insisted there must be a UK-wide approach to negotiations with the EU, which are expected to begin by late March, and is understood to be confident that the SNP will not press ahead with a referendum while polls show it would face another defeat.
As the leaders met at Downing Street yesterday, a spokesman for Mrs May said: ‘We have been very clear that we should be working together to secure the best possible deal for the whole country.
‘We expect representatives of the devolved administrations to act in that way and to in no way undermine the UK’s position.’
The Scottish Daily Mail that a refreshed ‘memorandum of understanding’ was due to be signed at the meeting which included a commitment that the devolved nations would not contradict UK Government policy during any dealings with foreign governments.
But the agreement, which had been in the pipeline for two years, had to be ripped up because the Scottish and Northern Irish governments did not wish to comply.
It provides another sign that relations between the administrations have slumped to a new low.
Miss Sturgeon and her ministers have held several meetings with EU officials and representatives of European countries since the UK voted Leave in June. However, a UK Government source said: ‘It is important they don’t undermine negotiations. If the UK Government is going to share information it is very important that there is a trust agreement with that.’ Before yesterday’s meeting, Miss Sturgeon called for a ‘flexible’ Brexit arrangement that would allow a different deal for different parts of the UK. No 10 said Mrs May had told the devolved administrations she would strike a Brexit agreement that works for the whole of the UK, and wanted their input in shaping it. She also set out her commitment to the Union at the meeting.
Afterwards, Mrs May said: ‘The great Union between us has been the cornerstone of our prosperity in the past, and it is absolutely vital to our success in the future.
‘The country is facing a negotiation of tremendous importance and it is imperative that the devolved administrations play their part in making it work.’
Speaking after the meeting, Miss Sturgeon said it is ‘nonsense’ to suggest she could damage the UK’s negotiating position because it is impossible to undermine ‘something that doesn’t exist’. She added: ‘I’m not prepared to simply stand back and watch Scotland driven off a hard Brexit cliff edge, because the consequences in lost jobs, lost investment, lower living standards are too serious for that and I’m not prepared to watch that happen – at least not without giving Scotland the option of choosing a better alternative.’
Scottish Tory leader Ruth Davidson said: ‘Nicola Sturgeon needs to engage in a constructive fashion. The SNP isn’t going to answer any of the issues thrown up by Brexit by dividing the UK. Nor can she avoid the fact that our UK single market is more than four times as important to Scotland as the EU.’
‘We should be working together’
NICOLA Sturgeon has found a new bogeyman for the SNP, with Westminster replaced by Brexit as the latest unspeakable Tory evil.
Her contention is that Brexit has sent us hurtling towards an economic cliff-edge, and she has produced various apocalyptic statistics to back up this assertion.
Her solution is not to steer away from the abyss – but effectively to step on the accelerator by initiating another bid to break up Britain.
As ever, the First Minister’s stance is dictated wholly by what is best for the SNP’s narrow political interests. She happily conflates the SNP view with that of the entire country. According to a Scottish Government analysis of the possible consequences of leaving the EU, Scotland’s GDP is projected to be between £1.7billion and £11.2billion lower per year by 2030.
That paper – straight from the playbook of George Osborne, who threatened tax rises in the event of Brexit – was published in August, the day before official figures revealed the huge scale of the drop in oil revenues.
The timing of that exercise underlined the cynicism and indeed downright deceit of the SNP. It is content to warn that Brexit will lead to virtual Armageddon – while ignoring mounting evidence that Scottish independence would have devastating repercussions for the Scottish economy.
In fact, severing ties with the EU could lead to a radical re-empowerment of Holyrood, from fisheries and agriculture to control over VAT and immigration policy.
But these benefits inconveniently get in the way of the SNP’s narrative that Brexit is the work of malign Tories and English xenophobes (as well as about a third of SNP voters and roughly two-fifth of Scottish voters).
On the one hand, Miss Sturgeon rails against Theresa May for having no clear idea of what Brexit will mean, despite her own Government’s continuing lack of clarity over the mechanics of Scottish independence.
But on the other, she is desperate to be part of the negotiating process that will shape the nature of our withdrawal from the EU.
Effectively, the First Minister wants to have her cake and eat it.
The truth is that the SNP’s strategy, such as it is, relies entirely on portraying Brexit as a failure, whatever the eventual outcome of the negotiations.
Put simply, there is no possible scenario that would – or ever could – please the SNP.
Voicing any satisfaction with a Brexit deal would be toxic for a party which prides itself on a visceral loathing of the Conservatives.
Its powerbase of activists clamouring for another referendum would never forgive Miss Sturgeon if she were to agree with the Prime Minister. Which is the truth at the heart of the SNP’s phoney war: the only deal they’re interested in is the one that splits the UK.