LEAVING the EU with no deal would be preferable to breaking up the Union, Scottish Secretary David Mundell has said.
Mundell said he does not want to see a no-deal Brexit but he could not accept an arrangement that "threatens the integrity of the United Kingdom" such as one of the EU's proposals on the issue of Northern Ireland.
He said the Prime Minister's proposals are a good deal and urged people from across the political divide to rally behind them to help avoid a no-deal scenario.
It comes after Labour's Ian Murray said the Brexit "chaos" caused by the Tories means Theresa May's party is now as big a threat to the continuation of the United Kingdom as the SNP.
Speaking on a visit to the Google Digital Garage in Edinburgh, Mundell said: "No deal is going to be very disruptive to our economy.
"It would be a very difficult situation to be in but I think it would be preferable to breaking up the United Kingdom, but I don't think it's preferable to an arrangement of the sort the Prime Minister is putting forward.
"I don't want to see a no deal, I don't think a no-deal situation is good for Scotland, good for the United Kingdom but we can't have a situation where the EU can determine that part of the United Kingdom can be dealt with differently than other parts and one of their offers does do that in relation to Northern Ireland.
"We know the integrity of the UK is very very important and important to the people here in Scotland so I can't accept an arrangement that threatens the integrity of the United Kingdom.
"What I do think is we've put forward an important proposal which seeks to meet the aspirations of those people who want to leave the EU but also does what business wants us here in Scotland, allow them to continue to sell goods into the EU and maintain important supply chains and therefore keep jobs here in Scotland and the rest of the UK and therefore I think it's a good deal and the one that people across the political divide who don't want to see a no deal scenario should rally behind."
Labour's Murray warned a hard Brexit, which would see the UK leave both the single market and the customs union as part of its European Union departure, would "destabilise" the union between Scotland and England, as well as "decimate" jobs and "devastate" the economy.
He claimed such a move "plays directly into the hands of the SNP who will use it to pursue a divisive second independence referendum" and said divisions over the Chequers deal highlighted the "chaos engulfing the Prime Minister".
Murray, the MP for Edinburgh South, said: "As a result of the reckless referendum on EU membership, and the chaos engulfing the Prime Minister, the Tories are now as big a threat to the Union as the SNP.
"Theresa May can no longer be trusted with what she once called the 'precious Union', and Ruth Davidson's Scottish Tory MPs are providing nothing but lobby fodder for the Prime Minister's hard Brexit."
Mundell called on anyone who wants the best outcome to Scotland to rally round behind the Prime Minister's proposals.
He said: "Of course it's not everything that they would want but it is better than a no deal situation."
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