May says Brexit deal ‘clear’ within 18 months
Prime Minister makes 18-month claim in crunch talks with Sturgeon
Britain’s future relationship with Europe will be made clear within the next 18 months – before a second independence referendum is held – Theresa May has claimed.
The Prime Minister said that the Scottish Government’s 18-month time frame for a second vote would be enough to establish how Brexit will play out. She added her opposition to a second independence referendum before that date would not change.
The UK’S future relationship with the EU will be clear within the 18-month timeframe proposed by the Scottish Government for a second independence referendum, according to Prime Minister Theresa May.
Nicola Sturgeon said the claim was made during crunch talks between the two leaders in Glasgow yesterday and insisted it undermines Mrs May’s opposition to a second vote on Scotland leaving the UK.
The talks in Glasgow yesterday came ahead of a vote in the Scottish Parliament later today where MSPS are expected to formally endorse demands for a second referendum on independence in light of the Brexit vote.
That crunch vote, delayed after the Westminster terrorist attacks last week, comes just a day before Mrs May herself triggers Article 50 starting the two-year countdown to the UK’S departure from the EU on Wednesday.
The First Minister said she found Mrs May’s take on the Brexit timetable “interesting”.
Ms Sturgeon said: “She [Mrs May] is absolutely adamant that she believes the terms of Brexit, by which she means both the exit terms and the divorce deal and the detail of a comprehensive free trade agreement, in other words the future relationship between the UK and EU will be clear, the details of that will be clear before the UK exits the EU.
“I put it to her that what she was suggesting was that in a period of 18 months from now, or two years from now, the terms of the future relationship between the UK and the EU would be clear and she said ‘yes’, that is what she was saying.”
Ms Sturgeon went on: “I think it makes it very difficult for the Prime Minister to maintain a rational opposition to a referendum in the timescale I have set out.
“I think she has got a perfectly rational opposition to a referendum now, which is why I am not proposing it.
“But I think based on the discussion today I would struggle to see what her rational opposition to it would be in the timescale we have been talking about.”
Power over the constitution is reserved to Westminster and the Scottish Government would require authorisation through a section 30 order to stage a second referendum, similar to the Edin- burgh Agreement setting out the terms of the 2014 vote.
The Prime Minister insisted yesterday that her position will not change on a second independence referendum by spring 2019 after rejecting the Scottish Government’s request earlier this month.
Mrs May said a vote during that time frame would be “unfair” to the Scottish people.
“My position is very simple and it hasn’t changed,” she said. “It is that now is not the time to be talking about a second independence referendum and that’s for a couple of reasons.
“First of all, now is the point when we are triggering Article 50, we’re starting negotiations for leaving the European Union.
“Now is the time when we should be pulling together, not hanging apart. Pulling together to make sure we get the best possible deal for the whole of the UK.
“Also I think it would be unfair on the people of Scotland to ask them to make a significant decision until all the facts were known.”
“I would struggle to see what her rational opposition to it would be in the timescale we have been talking about” NICOLA STURGEON
The problems are continuing to stack up for Theresa May. On this side of the Border, Nicola Sturgeon looks set to keep on the pressure for a second independence referendum.
Meanwhile, across the water, Northern Ireland has ground to a halt. This is a terrible reversal of what had previously seen so much success, after so much effort had gone into finding ways to share power. There are reports that Sinn Fein might hold out for a separate Brexit agreement for Northern Ireland – as the SNP is hoping to do.
It is undoubtedly a difficult time for her – and a situation for which she would be unlikely to have legislated when she took over in the wake of the Brexit vote, just eight months ago in July.
Scotland was always going to be a thorn in her side, but the fact that government in Belfast has collapsed at the same time must have come as something of a shock.
Sturgeon has previously been criticised for taking her eye of the ball when it comes to domestic policy, instead spending too much time focusing on the constitution, but, like her, May will have little choice.
It is unlikely that she is going to have much time to spend on English issues such as health and education when there is so much going on both at a domestic – and at a European – level.
She is doing her best to try to separate the issues, insisting that waiting until after Brexit to face a Scottish independence referendum is the best way forward.
Yet, at the moment, it seems unlikely that May will be able to negotiate a Brexit deal without as well having to juggle domestic distractions.