Chancellor: No special Brexit deal for Scotland

Hammond says there will not be any Brexit exemptions north of the border

Nicola Sturgeon’s hankering for a special Brexit deal for Scotland has been crushed by the Chancellor.

Philip Hammond told journalists ahead of his meeting with the First Minister yesterday that Scotland would leave the EU under the terms of a UK-wide agreement with Brussels.

The Conservative MP said he wanted to work closely with the Scottish Government on a common approach, before saying those plotting to scupper Brexit are “backward-looking” and “clutching at straws”.

When asked about respecting the Remain vote in Scotland, he said: “This is a UK issue and the will of the people of the UK was to leave and we are clear that we can’t have a different deal or a different outcome for different parts of the UK.

“We have to work together as a United Kingdom now to get the best possible deal with Europe and then to make our way in the world as a United Kingdom to the benefit of all parts of the UK.”

Mr Hammond, who was in Edinburgh yesterday for talks with Ms Sturgeon and to meet business leaders, said he wanted to “work closely” with the Scottish Government.

But he said he hoped there would be an end to the “backward-looking, clutching at straws” from those “trying to resist the will of the people”.

Scotland voted to stay in the continental bloc on June 23, but was over-ruled by the strength of the Leave vote in England and Wales.

Ms Sturgeon says she wants to protect Scotland’s pro-EU stance against a Brexit they did not vote for.

Her options include forcing the UK to adopt a “soft” Brexit with full single market access, securing exemptions for Scotland within a harder UK-wide Brexit, or pursuing Scottish independence.

Stephen Gethins, the SNP’s Europe spokesman at Westminster, said Mr Hammond’s comments are a “worrying insight into the approach of the UK Government towards Scotland”, where 62% wanted to stay in the EU.

Mr Hammond sat down with Ms Sturgeon and her Finance Secretary Derek Mackay for talks in the Scottish Parliament yesterday afternoon.

A spokesman for the First Minister said: “The Chancellor said he looked forward to hearing our proposals on Scotland’s place in Europe, and that they will be considered fully by the UK Government.”

Earlier David Davis, the UK Secretary of State for Exiting the EU, said Britain could continue paying into Brussels to secure access to the single market.

He told MPs the Government wanted to “get the best possible access for goods and services to the European market” after the country has quit the bloc.

It is the first time a minister has openly signalled money could be handed over to Brussels to secure favourable trading terms with the remaining 27 member states. Downing Street said his comments were consistent with the Government’s stated position that it was for the UK to decide how its taxpayers’ money was spent.

We have to work together as a United Kingdom now. PHILIP HAMMOND

Picture: PA. Chancellor Philip Hammond looks at a section of a deep sea drill rig during a visit to the Lyell Centre for Natural Environment Research at Heriot-Watt University, Edinburgh.