Threat to Scottish exporters

Scottish ministers ‘drawn in’ to postbrexit trade talks, but won’t get a veto

Scotland will no be given a veto over post-brexit trade deals between the UK and other countries, but will be “drawn in” to talks as much as possible, ministers have told MPS.

Giving evidence to the Scottish affairs committee at Westminster, trade policy minister George Hollingberry also said lowering standards for food imports to secure post-brexit trade agreements would cause “untold damage”.

Mr Hollingberry said the UK government would take devolved needs into account “at every stage and as deeply as is possible” while negotiating new trade deals around the world. “We should be drawing them as closely in as is reasonable to the actual negotiations such that we can have 0 David Mundell said that fears are ‘entirely fanciful’

a full and frank exchange of views, so we know what devolved administrations want,” he said.

But he added that a veto for the Scottish Government was “not on the table and will never be” because the UK single market had to be protected.

Questioned over fears of chlorine-treated chicken or hormone-injected beef being allowed into the UK after Brexit, Mr Hollingbery said: “We would be foolish, commercially, internationally to lower our standards. It would do us untold damage.”

SNP MP Pete Wishart, the committee chairman, asked: “Would you be prepared even to go as far as to say that if a free trade arrangements was offered by the US… that would be rejected in order to maintain the very high standards that we have around quality?”

The minister replied: “We will not be lowering our standards. My opinion is that would be a very, very ill-thought through thing to do.”

Scottish Secretary David Mundell claimed many of the issues around standards were “entirely fanciful”, telling MPS: “I cannot see this Parliament agreeing chlorine-washed chicken coming into Scotland or the United Kingdom.”