In his New Year Message, Scottish Secretary David Mundell has set out that 2019 needs to be a year of compromise to get Brexit sorted. Speaking just ahead of the turn of the year, Mr Mundell said:
I’m not going to pretend that 2018 has been an easy year. In Scotland and across the UK, the past 12 months have brought home the difficulties of leaving the EU. Brexit has amplified divisions – between political parties, within political parties and outside politics too.
The people I meet in Scotland simply want Brexit sorted. I understand that. I agree with them that we need to move on to the many other things that matter to us in our daily lives.
For that to happen, 2019 must be a year of compromise and pragmatism. It must be a year when we set aside divisions and work together for the good of the country. Even after a tough 2018, I’m confident that can happen.
We can leave the EU, respecting the result of the 2016 referendum and the votes of 17.4 million people across the UK, and we can do so in a way that protects jobs, supports business and allows us all to get on with our lives.
The Prime Minister has negotiated a deal with the other EU member states that delivers on all of that. We can leave in an orderly way, with a transition period that will allow us to finalise our future arrangements with the EU, wave goodbye to the despised Common Fisheries Policy and begin to strengthen our trading relationships with the rest of the world.
But we will all need to summon the spirit of compromise. As we enter the final three months before we leave the EU, the time has passed for politicians seeking to use Brexit to bring about a General Election or an unwanted second independence referendum.
The last thing we need, the last thing the country needs, is more division. Instead, we should be the crossing the ‘t’ and dotting the ‘i’ of Brexit, then moving onto focus on other issues.
Scotland’s economic performance continues to lag behind that of the UK as a whole. Both Scotland’s governments must work together to address the challenges we face. That’s why, in 2019, my priorities will be jobs and prosperity in Scotland. We will soon have new growth deals covering Ayrshire, Borderlands and Moray, on top of the more than £1 billion the UK Government has already committed to economic regeneration in and around Scotland’s seven cities.
And like everyone else in Scotland, I want to see the Scottish Government getting to grips with our struggling NHS, our under-performing schools and our woeful rail network. What I do not want is to see Nicola Sturgeon expending all her energy trying to use Brexit to campaign for a second independence referendum. That issue was settled decisively in 2014.
So I say, let’s work together. In 2019, let’s finish the job of leaving the EU and refocus so we can make real progress on the things that matter to us all. I know we can do it.
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There is so much wrong with this message from the Secretary of State that it is difficult to know where to start. It is a mixture of distraction, distortion and dissembling from a man whose only interest is to do his boss’ bidding and thereby keep his job.
Let’s take just 3 paragraphs –
– “The people I meet in Scotland simply want Brexit sorted. I understand that. I agree with them that we need to move on to the many other things that matter to us in our daily lives.”
Of course we can agree with that! But what does it mean? This is the logic of the mugger who says “Just give me your money and valuables and you can leave here with your legs intact”.
– “We can leave the EU, respecting the result of the 2016 referendum and the votes of 17.4 million people across the UK, and we can do so in a way that protects jobs, supports business and allows us all to get on with our lives.”
This is simply incorrect. Every respectable economic forecaster – including the UK Treasury, says that Theresa May’s deal will damage jobs and business. What Theresa May is now engaged in doing is to argue that it would be worse without any deal whatsoever. That if you want to escape the mugger without further damage then you will just quietly hand over your credit card and pin number and, “In the spirit of compromise, I will put this hammer away.”
– “The Prime Minister has negotiated a deal with the other EU member states that delivers on all of that. We can leave in an orderly way, with a transition period that will allow us to finalise our future arrangements with the EU, wave goodbye to the despised Common Fisheries Policy and begin to strengthen our trading relationships with the rest of the world.”
The PM’s deal does NOT do that. What it does is minimise the damage but part of the price for even that is that we will be unable to conclude any new trading relationships with the rest of the world. Yes, we may BEGIN work on new (or more likely, “replacement”) trade deals but we cannot CONCLUDE any of these unless we leave the Customs Union. And at that point we not only sever our relationship with the biggest trading bloc in the world but also have to renegotiate about 80 deals with our countries who will more than happily strike new terms with a weakened desperate UK government.
And while there is much that is wrong with the Common Fisheries Policy, we will still be subject to international agreements since fish still enjoy Freedom of Movement under the sea. A far better way to address the deficiencies would be for UK Govt to allow Scottish Government to take the lead for the UK from within the EU on this matter, reflecting the hugely greater proportion of the catch that happens in Scottish waters.
It is true that Scotland faces some challenges in terms of it’s “economic performance” but piling Brexit damage needlessly on top of that will not help. Likewise, ripping away that 15% of the “struggling NHS” resources who hail from EU27 countries will hardly improve matters there either.
May and Mundell propose making matters worse and will then presumably blame others once more. Perhaps it will get so bad that the NHS should be privatised and sold to American healthcare companies as part of a “bold new trading relationship”?
No. When a deal is a bad deal it doesn’t do anyone any favours to pretend otherwise. The people of Scotland were right to reject Brexit by 62% against 38% and would almost certainly vote it down by over 2 against 1 if given another chance. The Secretary of State for Scotland should think about compromising with that.