NICOLA Sturgeon has criticised the UK Government’s refusal to publish its breakdown of Brexit’s impact on Scotland.
The First Minister spoke out after UK Brexit Secretary David Davis had told MPs that the Government had decided not to publish anything that would “undermine national interest” and to release industry-specific information is the equivalent of “giving a price list to the other side”.
Speaking at a meeting of Holyrood’s conveners group, Sturgeon said it was ridiculous to suggest keeping the reports secret was in the “national interest”.
“We saw reports yesterday estimating the loss of economic output in Scotland could be £30 billion.
“I certainly would like to see more transparency around this from the UK Government and there are suggestions that the UK Government has sector specific analysis of the impact of Brexit.
“There’s a suggestion that it has an analysis looking particularly at Scotland as whole but thus far there’s been a refusal to publish those analyses. I think that’s unconscionable. I think the public have a right to know.”
Sturgeon told the MSPs: “It might not be in the interest of the UK Government to publish these, but it’s certainly in the national interest to publish them.
“There is lack of willingness to share information and to allow the Scottish Government, or indeed the other devolved administrations, to properly influence this work.
“I just don’t think that is acceptable, either from the point of view of respect for devolution or in the interest of actually getting the best possible outcomes to these discussions.”
Meanwhile, during another chaotic afternoon for the UK Government, Davis was forced to perform a massive U-turn after he told MPs that Parliament might only get a vote on any final trade deal with Europe after Britain has left the EU in March 2019.
His department later put out a clarification saying that the vote would, in fact, probably, be well before Brexit day.
It all started when Labour MP Seema Malhotra had asked Davis when thought the vote would be, and if it might come after March 29, 2019.
He said: “Yes, it could be. It can’t come before we have the deal. We have said it is our intent and expect-ation that we will bring it to the British Parliament before the European Parliament.”
This infuriated MPs, who said it was breaking a promise the Government had already made, and one which, after the Supreme Court decision, could be challenged in court.
Later at Prime Minister’s Questions, in an attempt to diffuse the situation, May dismissed Davis’s claims, saying “We are confident we will. The timetable under the Lisbon treaty does give time until March 2019 for the negotiations to take place.
“I’m confident, because it is in the interests of both sides. It’s not just this Parliament that wants to have a vote on that deal, actually there will be ratification by other Parliaments, that we will be able to achieve that deal in time for Parliament to have the vote that we committed to.”
Then, Davis’s official spokesman released a statement which said: “We are working to reach an agreement on the final deal in good time before we leave the EU in March 2019.
“Once the deal is agreed, we will meet our long-standing commitment to a vote in both Houses and we expect and intend this to be before the vote in the European Parliament and therefore before we leave.
“This morning the Secretary of State was asked about hypothetical scenarios. Michel Barnier has said he hopes to get the deal agreed by October 2018 and that is our aim as well.”
Labour’s John McDonnell said the Government was making policy up on the “hoof”. Meanwhile, SNP MPs challenged Scottish Secretary David Mundell to name one power that would definitely come to the Scottish Parliament as a result of Brexit. Mundell, who had promised a powers “bonanza” for Scotland when Britain leaves the EU, would only say that the Government expected there to be a “significant increase in the decision-making power of each devolved administration”. He accused the SNP in Westminster of taking a “pantomime approach” to the issue of powers.
SNP’s Glasgow East MP David Linden said his response was “fluff”.
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