Tag: Brexit

Scottish Government ‘cannot support’ UK Internal Market Bill

Bill introduced ‘to protect jobs and trade across the whole of the United Kingdom’

  • Bill introduced to protect trade and jobs across the UK by preventing new burdens on business when the Transition Period ends
  • transfer of powers from the EU to the UK government to invest in businesses and communities across Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland as we recover from Covid-19
  • a new independent Office for the Internal Market (OIM) to be set up within the Competition and Markets Authority to monitor the smooth running of trade within the United Kingdom
  • the Bill will also set out limited and reasonable steps ensure that the government is always able to deliver on its commitments to the people of Northern Ireland

A new Bill to protect jobs and trade across the whole of the United Kingdom after the Transition Period ends will be introduced to Parliament today.

The UK Internal Market Bill will ‘guarantee companies can trade unhindered in every part of the UK as they have done for centuries, ensuring the continued prosperity of people and business across 4 parts of the UK, while maintaining our world-leading high standards for consumers, workers, food, animal welfare and the environment’ says the UK Government – but if enacted the Bill breaks international law.

From 1 January 2021, powers in a range of policy areas previously exercised at an EU level will flow directly to the devolved administrations in Holyrood, Cardiff Bay and Stormont for the first time. This will give the devolved legislatures power over more issues than they have ever had before, including over air quality, energy efficiency of buildings and elements of employment law, without removing any of their current powers.

Once the Transition Period ends, rules that have regulated how each home nation trades with each other over the past 45 years will fall away. Without urgent legislation to preserve the status quo of seamless internal trade, rules and regulations set in Scotland, England, Wales and Northern Ireland could create new barriers to trade between different parts of the UK, unnecessary red tape for business and additional costs for consumers. Data shows that the combined total sales from Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland to the rest of the United Kingdom were worth over £90 billion in 2018.

The Bill will ‘avoid this uncertainty for business by creating an open, fair, and competitive market across the United Kingdom, ensuring regulations from one part of the country will be recognised in another’. Each devolved administration will still be able to set their own standards as they do now, while also being able to benefit from the trade of businesses based anywhere in the UK. The rules in this bill will also bind the UK government when acting on behalf of England in areas of devolved competence.

Business Secretary Alok Sharma said: “For centuries the UK’s internal market has been the cornerstone of our shared prosperity, delivering unparalleled stability and economic growth across the Union.

“This Bill will protect our highly integrated market by guaranteeing that companies can continue to trade unhindered in every part of the UK after the Transition Period ends and EU law falls away.

“By providing clarity over rules that will govern the UK economy after we take back control of our money and laws, we can increase investment and create new jobs across the United Kingdom, while our maintaining world-leading standards for consumers, workers, food and the environment.

“Without these necessary reforms, the way we trade goods and services between the home nations could be seriously impacted, harming the way we do business within our own borders. Now is not the time to create uncertainty for business with new barriers and additional costs that would trash our chances of an economic recovery.”

The Bill will also enable the UK government to provide financial assistance to Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland with new powers to spend taxpayers’ money previously administered by the EU. From January 2021, the UK will be able to invest in communities and businesses nationwide with powers covering infrastructure, economic development, culture, sport, and support for educational, training and exchange opportunities both within the UK and internationally – much of which were previously done at an EU level.

The transfer of powers from the EU to the UK government will complement and strengthen existing support given to citizens in Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland by the devolved administrations, without taking away their responsibilities. A strong UK Internal Market, with the ability of the UK government to invest to support all parts of our Union, will help the UK government to deliver prosperity for businesses and communities across all parts of the UK, levelling up the country and strengthening the Union.

The proposals will allow the UK government to meet its commitments to deliver replacements for EU programmes, such as a UK Shared Prosperity Fund, replacing bureaucratic EU structural funds and at a minimum match the size of those funds in each nation.

The Bill will also set out limited and reasonable steps to ensure that the government is always able to deliver on its commitments to the people of Northern Ireland. The UK government remains fully committed to implementing the Withdrawal Agreement and Northern Ireland Protocol.

However, at all stages we must, as a responsible government, ensure that we have the ability to uphold our commitments to the people of Northern Ireland, preserve the huge gains of the peace process and protect Northern Ireland’s place in our United Kingdom – as set out in the Command Paper published in May.

Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster Michael Gove said:  The devolved administrations of the UK will enjoy a power surge when the Transition Period ends in December. Holyrood, Stormont and Cardiff Bay will soon have more powers than ever before and there will be no change to the powers the devolved administrations already have.

“This Bill will also give the UK government new spending powers to drive our economic recovery from COVID-19 and support businesses and communities right across the UK.

“No longer will unelected EU bodies be spending our money on our behalf. These new spending powers will mean that these decisions will now be made in the UK, focus on UK priorities and be accountable to the UK Parliament and people of the UK.”

The UK government has also laid out plans to establish an independent monitoring body, the Office for the Internal Market (OIM), to support the smooth running of trade within the United Kingdom.

The body will sit within the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) and provide independent, technical advice to parliament and the devolved administrations on regulation that may damage the UK’s internal market.

The reporting and monitoring role undertaken by the OIM will be non-binding and carried independently from ministers and devolved administrations, ensuring impartiality and transparency when developing its evidence.

Where there is a matter of dispute, the OIM will ultimately provide such reports to the UK Parliament and each of the devolved legislatures and it will be for these bodies, supported by their respective administrations and intergovernmental processes, to determine how to take action in response, minimising the need to seek court action.

Andrea Coscelli, CEO of the Competition and Markets Authority, said: The new independent Office for the Internal Market will stand ready to provide technical advice to the UK government and parliament and the devolved administrations and legislatures on the smooth running of trade within the United Kingdom. The CMA will ensure that the OIM fulfils its role with professionalism, impartiality and analytical rigour.“

Without this action to preserve the status quo of seamless domestic trade, businesses across the UK could face serious problems: a Welsh lamb producer could end up unable to sell their lamb in Scotland, or Scotch whisky producers could lose access to supply from English barley farmers. These proposals create certainty for businesses that might otherwise face a complex and increasingly fragmented regulatory environment.

The UK’s existing high standards across areas including environmental standards, workers’ rights, animal welfare and food standards will underpin the functioning of the Internal Market to protect consumers and workers across the economy. The UK government is committed to maintaining high standards in these areas, including in all free trade agreement negotiations.

More than 270 businesses, charities, academics and industry groups responded to a public consultation on the proposals, launched in July. Responses showed overwhelming support from businesses for the measures to avoid additional costs to doing business between different parts of the UK and providing vital certainty for firms from January 2021.

Try as they may to sell the Bill, the Westminster government’s decision to renege on parts of the agreement previously negotiated with the EU will see the UK set on a collision course with Brussels, making a ‘No Deal’ Brexit increasingly likely.

The controversial decision has seen the UK Government’s most senior lawyer quit his post over the plans to modify the Brexit withdrawal agreement. It is understood Sir Jonathan Jones, permanent secretary to the UK Government Legal Department, is unhappy with the new bill to be unveiled today – a Bill which government minister Brandon Lewis admits will ‘break international law’.

The Scottish Government has said it is impossible to recommend the Scottish Parliament gives consent to the UK Government’s Internal Market bill.

The bill, which will be published by the UK Government tomorrow, engages the Sewel Convention, and therefore the UK’s constitutional rules require the consent of Holyrood.

Constitution Secretary Michael Russell said if the UK Government refuses to respect the will of the Scottish Parliament it will demonstrate once more that the UK’s constitution provides no protection to the devolution settlement and the UK Government can ignore the rules whenever it chooses.

Mr Russell said there is no mechanism to challenge such disregard for accepted practice, demonstrating the UK is “not a genuine partnership of equals”.

Mr Russell said: “It beggars belief that the UK Government is asking the Scottish Government to recommend consent to the Internal Market Bill. This is not a genuine partnership of equals and we couldn’t recommend consent to a Bill that undermines devolution and the Scottish Parliament, and which, by the UK Government’s own admission, is going to break international law.

“This is a shabby blueprint that will open the door to bad trade deals and unleashes an assault on devolution the like we have not experienced since the Scottish Parliament was established. We cannot, and will not, allow that to happen.

“It will open the door to a race to the bottom on food standards, environmental standards and will endanger key public health policies such as minimum unit pricing. It will also deliver a hammer blow to the Scottish economy by making it harder for the UK Government to conclude Free Trade agreements if other countries think the UK won’t meet its obligations.

“As each day passes, it becomes clearer that the people of Scotland deserve the right to choose a better direction, to determine their own future. That is why, before the end of this parliament, we will set out the terms of a future independence referendum clearly and unambiguously to the people of Scotland, in a draft referendum bill.”

Scotland’s leading pro-EU organisation, the European Movement in Scotland, today condemns the UK Government’s Internal Market Bill as both a breach of faith with the EU and an assault on Scotland’s democratic devolved settlement.

In a strongly worded letter sent to Ursula von der Leyen, European Commission president, and other leading EU figures, EMiS says it disassociates itself entirely from the UK’s “reckless behaviour” that “puts at risk the rule of law” and “threatens peace on the island of Ireland.”

At the same time, EMiS vice-chair David Clarke condemns the bill’s proposal to confer sweeping powers on UK ministers over the devolved administrations in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland without any control by MPs, MSPs etc.

He says: “The Scottish Parliament and the Scottish Government are having their powers cut against the democratic will of the voters of Scotland. This Bill is an assault on democracy.”

The full letter , also sent to Michel Barnier, EU chief Brexit negotiator, Charles Michel, European Council president, and David Sassoli, European Parliament president, is attached in full:

Dear President Von der Leyen, 

I am writing on behalf of the hundreds of members and supporters of the European Movement in Scotland to let you, and all our EU friends and partners, know that we dissociate ourselves entirely from the reckless behaviour of the United Kingdom Government. 

We share the view of the European Union that the Internal Market Bill is a breach of the undertaking in the Withdrawal Agreement to negotiate in good faith. It puts at risk the rule of law, it jeopardises arrangements for the continuation of peace on the island of Ireland and makes more likely a no deal outcome to the EU/UK trade negotiations. We utterly condemn this disgraceful and underhand proposal and support the EU’s demand that international law is upheld. It is not in our name. 

In addition, we want to express our concern that the democratic settlement in Scotland is being undermined by this same legislation. As analysis by the Centre on Constitutional Change makes clear, the Internal Market Bill gives UK ministers new powers to control a wide range of devolved matters.

The devolved nations are to have no role in defining the internal market. UK Ministers will gain sweeping powers and can get more, through statutory instrument rather than fully scrutinised primary legislation.

The mutual recognition principle in the Bill means that goods, services and professionals meeting the standards of any part of the UK can be traded or work in all the others, and as England is by far the largest part, and the UK Government sets the rules there, it will decide. This is not a partnership of equals. 

Further powers are given to UK ministers to spend in devolved areas. UK ministers can also decide the conditions of such spending. So the UK will gain more powers and it will exercise them on its own. There is no equivalent in the UK to the binding subsidiarity and proportionality principles in the EU.  The Scottish Parliament and the Scottish Government are having their powers cut against the democratic will of the voters of Scotland. This Bill is an assault on democracy.

We in the European Movement in Scotland campaign relentlessly for membership of Scotland, and the wider UK, in the EU and for EU values of democracy, the rule of law, international solidarity etc. You will know that the voters of Scotland chose by a significant majority in the 2016 referendum to Remain in the EU. We ask that our friends and partners in Europe leave a light on for Scotland’s European future. 

I am writing in similar terms to M. Barnier, to the President of the European Council and to the President of the European Parliament. 

David Clarke

Chair of the European Movement in Scotland

European Movement in Scotland shouts ‘Enough’

Scotland’s leading pro-European campaign organisation, the European Movement in Scotland, (EMiS) has launched a campaign through its affiliated local groups across the country to defend democracy and highlight the sectors of the economy already damaged by Brexit.

The campaign, designed to galvanise Scottish opinion in the face of serious threats to our economic and political future, proclaims: “It’s time to join forces and shout ‘enough'”.

Letters to Scotland’s MPs and MSPs will be sent by grassroots activists from Fife to the Highlands and from Glasgow to Perthshire, saying: ‘The very concept of democracy is being weaponised. A cornerstone of democracy is the right to oppose, to challenge, to debate.

‘And yet, since the vote to leave the EU in June 2016, many people have come to believe that it means the opposite. Attempts to debate the manner of our departure from the EU have been dismissed as undemocratic.” The campaign will demand that Scotland’s elected representatives stand up for democracy and the country’s economic interests.

EMiS chair, former MP for Edinburgh North and Leith, Mark Lazarowicz, said: “Whatever people’s views on the EU, on Scotland’s future, we all need to wake up to the steady dismantling of our democracy; to understand that we risk sleepwalking into something which is a democracy in name only. 

“As soon as it’s COVID-safe, we intend to take our peaceful campaign out onto the streets to defend democracy.”

Over the coming days the rolling campaign will “alert people who may not yet have taken an active interest in the Brexit debate to the practical implications of our final departure, which will impact all of us in some way, and some of us – farmers, researchers, patients dependent on imported medicines – to an extreme extent.” 


Activists point out: “Brexit was supposed to resolve NHS funding issues, according to the (fake) promise on the bus. But the ramifications of leaving the EU for both the NHS and social care will compound the current coronavirus crisis.”

In agriculture and food, the campaign will demand that high food standards are protected in any trade deals, that climate change mitigation is prioritised, animal welfare is safeguarded and support is extended to fragile rural communities in areas such as North and West Scotland.

Scottish independence “inevitable,” says former Liberal leader in the European Parliament

Sir Graham Watson, former Liberal leader in the European Parliament has said that Brexit will mean that Scottish independence is “inevitable” and will see Scotland joining the EU as an independent member state.

Who is Sir Graham Watson?

Sir Graham, a Scot born in Rothesay, is a  Liberal Democrat politician who served as a Member of the European Parliament (MEP) for South West England from 1994 to 2014.

He was leader of the European Liberal Democrat and Reform Party Group (2002–2004) and the first leader of the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe Group (2004–2009). From 2011 until 2015 he was the President of the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe Party.

He told a European Movement in Scotland webinar: “I see no reason to fear that provided Scotland is prepared for it.” But he warned: “I see precious little of that preparation going on, sadly” and accused the Scottish Government of “dither and drift.”

Sir Graham, who lost his MEP seat in 2014 and is now based in Edinburgh and Brussels, suggested that Scotland currently resembled more Slovakia than Denmark given its poor record on productivity and export trade and urged the Scottish Government to set up new “hubs” in Bratislava, the Slovak capital, as well as in Copenhagen and Helsinki in order to boost economic links.

Hubs already exist in Berlin, Paris and Dublin. He suggested Scotland might join the Nordic Council but rejoining the EU via the European Economic Area, he argued, was a “pipe-dream.”

Former SNP MP and Europe spokesman in the Commons, Stephen Gethins, urged business, universities and local authorities to invest in Scotland House, the Scottish Government centre in Brussels, and in wider links with the EU and Europe.

eu+me: group welcomes launch of new campaign for Europe

Campaign group European Movement in Scotland (EMiS) has welcomed the launch of eu+me, a new campaign to bolster our ties with Europe.

EMiS Chair Mark Lazarowicz commented: “As Scotland’s leading pro-EU campaign organisation, the European Movement in Scotland (EMiS) is delighted to welcome the launch of eu+me.

“The fact that almost three quarters of people in Scotland think that we would weather the economic storms caused by coronavirus better if the UK remained part of the EU, with 65 per cent of the population regretting the UK’s decision to leave the EU, should not come as any surprise.

“It is great that yet more people from across the political spectrum are asserting the settled view of the majority of voters in Scotland that our place is at the heart of Europe.

“As Scotland’s largest membership organisation dedicated to promoting our EU future, and with members from all the political parties represented in the Scottish Parliament, EMiS looks forward to working closely with eu+me.

“With every passing day we see the bleak con that is Brexit and the damage it is doing to our country, already reeling from Covid and blindly charging towards a Brexit cliff-edge. 

“Being part of the EU offers us a dynamic, prosperous and sustainable Scotland, working in co-operation with our European friends on the basis of EU values of democracy, equality and solidarity.”

Brexit: ‘Let’s Get Going’, says Gove

Brexit. It dominated headlines for so, so long and it took a global pandemic to knock it off the front pages. Now, the UK Government wants to move on from coronavirus and, like it or not, leaving the EU looks set to feature prominently in the media once again …

The UK government has launched a new campaign to help businesses and individuals prepare for the end of the transition period.

  • New campaign to help businesses and individuals prepare for the end of the transition period.
  • The campaign will ensure ‘we are all ready to seize the opportunities available for the first time in nearly fifty years as a fully sovereign United Kingdom’.
  • Business and citizens may need to take action regardless of the type of agreement reached with the EU.

Today the government is launching a major new public information campaign, ‘The UK’s new start: let’s get going’.

It will clearly set out the actions businesses and individuals need to take to prepare for the end of the transition period on 31 December 2020, and ensure they are ready to seize the opportunities that it will bring.

Campaign advertisements will include the “Check, Change, Go” strapline which directs people and businesses to a straightforward checker tool at  gov.uk/transition which quickly identifies the necessary next steps they need to take.

The campaign will run across the full range of communication channels, including TV advertising and radio, out of home, digital, print, and direct channels such as text messages and Webinars. The campaign will also see the launch of a ‘field force team’ which will give one-to-one support in person or over the phone to businesses and their supply chains to minimise disruption to the movement of goods.

The campaign will target UK citizens intending to travel to Europe from 1st January 2021 and all importers to and exporters from the EU, alongside UK nationals living in the EU and EU, EEA or Swiss citizens living in the UK.

The actions people and business owners need to take vary based on their circumstances. They include:

  • Making sure you are ready to travel to Europe from 1 January 2021, for example by getting comprehensive travel insurance, ensuring your passport is valid, and checking your roaming policy with your mobile phone provider.
  • If you want to travel to Europe with your pet from 1 January 2021, contact your vet at least 4 months before you travel.
  • Making sure your business is ready to export or import from/to the EU, for example by getting an EU EORI number or registering with the relevant Customs Authority.

The UK Government says the campaign isn’t being run just to prepare people and businesses for changes at the end of the year – it will also highlight the ‘significant opportunities ahead including for exporters through new free trade agreements, for small businesses through smarter regulation, and for fishermen as we take back control of our coastal waters’.

The campaign will run alongside the UK’s continued negotiations with the EU. The UK is leaving the single market and customs union at the end of the year, and so most of the actions businesses and citizens are being asked to take will need to be completed regardless of the outcome of negotiations.

Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster Michael Gove (above) said: “At the end of this year we are leaving the single market and Customs Union regardless of the type of agreement we reach with the EU. This will bring changes and significant opportunities for which we all need to prepare.

“While we have already made great progress in getting ready for this moment, there are actions that businesses and citizens must take now to ensure we are ready to hit the ground running as a fully independent United Kingdom.

“This is a new start for everyone in the UK – British and European citizens alike – so let’s get going.”

Details of the key actions that businesses and individuals need to take before the end of the transition period can be found on gov.uk/transition.

Edinburgh North & Leith: the UK’s most pro-EU constituency

  • Edinburgh North & Leith constituency leads the way with more signatures than any other in the UK
  • Leading Scottish pro-EU organisation adds voice to calls for Brexit delay as petition passes 100,000

Scotland’s largest pro-EU campaign organisation, the European Movement in Scotland (EMis) has added its voice to calls for a two-year extension to the Brexit transition period, which culminates at the end of this year.

Urging the UK Government to focus on tackling the COVID-19 pandemic and the economic crisis, the call comes as Prime Minister Boris Johnson is set to meet EU institution leaders (the president of the European Council, Commission and Parliament.

Branding the refusal to extend as “highly reckless”, the demand by EMiS comes as a petition calling for such an extension passes the 100,000 threshold.

Passing this mark this requires the Petitions Committee of the Westminster Parliament to give serious consideration to whether such a delay should be debated.  An Edinburgh constituency, Edinburgh North & Leith has led the charge with more signatures than any constituency in the UK.

The First Ministers of Scotland and Wales have both written to Boris Johnson, requesting an extension period and a recent Ipsos Mori poll indicates that just under two-thirds – 64% – of people in Scotland believe the UK Government should seek an extension to focus on the pandemic. This compares to 54% across the UK – still a clear majority.

Recent evidence also points to the fact that the UK’s economic output has declined by over 20% in April amid warnings of seismic job losses caused by the Covid lockdown.

The World Trade Organisation has also warned that a No Deal Brexit during an economic recession could be as deep as the Great Depression.

David Clarke, Vice-Chair of the European Movement in Scotland said: “Despite experiencing one of the largest global pandemics, Boris Johnson’s government recklessly ploughs on with a transition period due to finish at the end of this year, deaf and blind to the enormous damage a poor Brexit deal or indeed no deal will have on an already weakened UK economy.

“If it is to be anything short of an economic catastrophe, the matter of negotiating a good trading deal with the EU should be set to one side until it can be given the serious attention that it clearly now requires.

“We are urging the Prime Minister to propose a two-year extension to the Brexit transition period.

“Such an extension is vital if the UK is not to suffer an even more grievous body-blow to our economy and society from Brexit, on top of the pandemic.

“So far, Boris Johnson has adamantly rejected any extension, but he now faces a full-scale Westminster debate after a petition demanding an extension while the ravages of Covid-19 continue passed the 100,000 barrier set by the Commons.

“It is great to see a Scottish constituency, Edinburgh North & Leith, cementing its role as Britain’s most pro-EU constituency.”

North & Leith leads the way in rejecting Michael Gove’s reckless statement

Edinburgh North & Leith leads the way as petition to delay Brexit negotiations until after the Coronavirus Outbreak has passed breaks the critical 100,000 threshold.

It might seem like a no-brainer to most that when negotiators cannot meet face to face and when civil servants across Europe are busy fighting the biggest threat health to health for 100 years that the “lesser” matter of negotiating a good trading deal with the EU should be set to one side until it can be given the serious attention that “one of the easiest in human history” clearly now requires if it is to be anything short of an economic catastrophe.

But with UK citizens supporting such a delay by almost 2:1 Boris Johnson’s government still ploughs on, apparently deaf and blind to the enormous damage which hammer an already weakened post-Covid UK economy.

Now a petition has reached the threshold which requires the Petitions Committee of the Westminster Parliament to give serious consideration to whether such a delay should be debated.  And an Edinburgh constituency, Edinburgh North & Leith has led the charge with more signatures than any other constituency in the UK.

If a delay is itself a no-brainer, then a debate to consider it should be automatic but Conservative  instransigence makes even that unlikely.  They don’t even want to talk about it.  That makes the  likelihood of a No Deal crash all the more likely. 

If the debate does go ahead, then it will, at least give Opposition politicians the opportunity to question why a government which is supposed to protect the country seems determined to inflict further chaos, unemployment and slash GDP by over 9% on a country which is already staggering after coronavirus. 

Signatures will continue to be collected despite reaching the critical threshold.  If you would like to add yours go to https://petition.parliament.uk/petitions/300412

European Movement in Scotland

Cunningham: put Brexit talks on hold

Environment Secretary Roseanna Cunningham has called on the UK Government to halt current Brexit negotiations to ensure all available resources can be put towards mitigating the effects of COVID-19 on the environment and rural economy.

Ms Cunningham was speaking ahead of today’s Inter-Ministerial Group for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs being hosted by the Scottish Government by video conference.

She said: “This is a truly unprecedented and distressing period for the entire country. Therefore all available government resource needs to be put towards tackling COVID-19 and mitigating its effects on almost every area of Scottish society.

“In this context, the Scottish Government feels that a Brexit Scotland did not vote for, and does not want, is an unwelcome and unnecessary distraction. Continuing to plough on could seriously harm our ability to tackle a virus which threatens lives and livelihoods across these islands.

“There is considering scope to discuss the pressures of COVID-19 at today’s meeting, something which is very much welcome. However, the UK Government are determined to press on with leaving the EU at the end of the year.

“A considerable amount of work is required to ensure this can be done in such a way that minimises the impact on the economy, people and the environment but the resources required for this activity should be devoted towards dealing with the current crisis. Furthermore, parliamentary timetabling cannot physically accommodate the work required to move forward the required legislation.

“We are therefore calling on the UK DEFRA Secretary of State to make the case in the UK Cabinet to halt current Brexit negotiations, which would allow us to refocus these Inter Ministerial Groups fully to co-ordinating and liaising across the four nations on our collective response to COVID-19.”

MSPs to grill Scottish Secretary

Holyrood’s Culture, Tourism, Europe and External Affairs Committee will today question the Secretary of State for Scotland Alister Jack (above) about the Withdrawal Agreement and the future relationship between the European Union and the UK.

In recent weeks the Committee has taken evidence from a wide range of experts with regard to the Northern Ireland protocol and the likely priorities of the EU and the UK Government in the forthcoming future relationship negotiations.  The Committee has also taken evidence from the Cabinet Secretary for Constitution, Europe and External Affairs, Michael Russell MSP.

Committee Convener Joan McAlpine said: “The clock is ticking for the UK to agree to its future relationship with the EU and we continue to lack clarity on the form that relationship will take.  

“The future relationship between the EU and the UK will have a significant impact on the day to day lives of people in Scotland. Thursday’s session – the first occasion the Secretary of State has provided evidence in the Scottish Parliament – will hopefully provide some clarity on what that future relationship will be.”

Deputy Convener, Claire Baker said: “Evidence that the Committee has taken in recent weeks has highlighted that considerable detail requires to be worked out regarding the operation of the Northern Ireland protocol, whilst the form of the future relationship with the EU remains highly uncertain, with leaving without a trade deal still a distinct possibility.

“The Secretary of State for Scotland has serious concerns to address so that we can avoid 9 months of further uncertainty.”

See the committee papers for Thursday here.

The UK Government risks “breaching the basic premise of the Union” in EU-UK negotiations if it fails to respect the Scottish legal system, Constitution Secretary Michael Russell (above) warned MSPs yesterday.

In a statement updating the Scottish Parliament on the Brexit negotiations, Mr Russell said the Scottish Government and Parliament must be involved in deciding the UK negotiating stance on devolved matters such as fisheries, the environment and justice, as well as the many other issues that will affect Scotland.

He added that the UK Government was intent on a hard Brexit which “will result in the people of Scotland being worse off financially, cut off practically and turned off politically from the European mainstream”.

Mr Russell said: “Devolved issues such as agriculture, environment and fisheries will be at the heart of these negotiations. As the legally and politically responsible body this (Scottish) Parliament and this Government must be involved in deciding on what stance to take.

“The UK Government must respect and take full account of the Scottish legal system – our separate courts, prosecution system and police. To fail to do so would be a breach not just of convention, nor even of the devolution settlement, but of the basic premise on which the Union is founded, for that includes protection for our legal system.

“No-one speaks for us, and no-one speaks about us, without us.

“We are now entering an even more difficult phase of the Brexit process which, if handled the way the UK Government proposes, will have severe negative impacts for the vast majority of people in Scotland. I continue to urge the UK Government to move back from its current aggressive rhetoric and ideological obsession with a very damaging hard Brexit.

“But I also urge this chamber to speak up for Scotland and put differences aside to do so.”

Missing EU already?

FIRST MINISTER: ‘We’ve never needed EU more’

First Minister Nicola Sturgeon has emphasised Scotland’s shared values with the European Union during a series of engagements in Brussels.

Speaking to an audience including EU diplomats at the European Policy Centre, she said that Scotland’s task now that membership of the EU had ended was to find a voice as an independent nation which could take its place on the world stage.

In the meantime, the Scottish Government will use its devolved powers to maintain, as far as it is able, the closest possible ties with the EU, while working towards independence.

Earlier the First Minister met EU chief negotiator Michel Barnier to discuss  the UK/EU talks, which are due to begin next month. She also spoke to EU Executive Vice President Margrethe Vestager about the EU’s Green Deal and the COP26 climate change conference in Glasgow, the dynamics of digitisation and Artificial Intelligence.

The First Minister said: “It was already clear, and it has been reaffirmed to me in the constructive meetings I’ve held today, that there is genuine goodwill in the EU towards Scotland.

“We are leaving the EU at a time when we have never benefited from it more, and when we have never needed it more to achieve our ambitions.

“On this visit to Brussels I have made clear how important it is for Scotland to remain close to the EU.”

It’s difficult to see what more Scotland can do to ‘remain close’ to the EU. The Scottish government’s position on Europe is clear, but unless we become an independent country we will remain on the outside.

And while we await another independence referendum, there is an increasing clamour for the Scottish government to concentrate on the ‘day job’. Domestic problems are mounting, the government’s competence is under increasing scrutiny and Scottish Parliament elections are on the horizon. These are tough times for the First Minister – and they can only get tougher.

The First Minister’s full speech to the European Policy Centre is available on the Scottish Government website.