NICOLA Sturgeon told an audience in London the case for independence has strengthened since Britain’s vote to leave the EU – while also warning it would be a “dereliction of duty” if MPs voted for a “bad or blindfold” Brexit.
As Brexit talks hit an impasse ahead of a crucial EU summit tomorrow, the First Minister renewed her appeal for the UK to remain in the single market and customs union and called for a Norway-style deal as the only “democratic compromise” that would unite different factions.
Sturgeon said she believed her “common sense” proposals could get majority support in the Commons, but added her previous appeals for a compromise had been rejected.
Afterwards, the SNP leader had a brief meeting with Prime Minister Theresa May last night. Sturgeon’s spokesman said: “The First Minister welcomed the opportunity for an update from the Prime Minister. However it remains clear that there remain fundamental issues to be resolved between the UK and the EU. It is the First Minister’s view that membership of the single market and customs union would not only resolve those issues but also limit the economic damage Brexit will cause.”
During her speech to the Royal College of Arts, Sturgeon said: “The UK is scheduled to leave the European Union [in] less than six months – but both a withdrawal agreement and a clear, detailed statement on the future relationship must be concluded much sooner.
“As things stand, we still have no guarantee of a transition agreement or a detailed proposition setting out the future trading relationship between the UK and EU.
“The UK Government seems intent on presenting a false choice between whatever bad, possibly blindfold, deal they manage to conclude and a no-deal scenario. For MPs to support a bad or a blindfold Brexit, a cobbled-together withdrawal agreement and a vague statement about our future relationship,
would in my view be a real dereliction of duty.”
The First Minister underlined Scotland’s “historic connections with Europe” and said she would do everything to ensure the country maintains those links.
“We like the idea of independent nations co-operating closely for the common good,” she said. “And, as we watch the Brexit negotiations unfold, the case for Scotland becoming one of those independent nations becomes ever stronger.
“The UK, throughout these negotiations, has shown little inclination to pay serious heed to Scotland – or, for that matter to Wales, London, or the different regions of England.
“Indeed, one of the lessons from our experience of the last two years, which I suspect has not been lost on the Scottish people and which will be remembered in Scotland for a long time to come, is the stark contrast between the EU’s treatment of independent nations, and the UK’s treatment of devolved nations.
“The European Union has supported Ireland and shown it nothing but solidarity as it confronts the challenges of Brexit; by contrast, the UK has dismissed and ignored Scotland’s concerns.”
Sturgeon also called for an extension of the proposed 21-month Brexit transition period to give the UK Government more time to negotiate a compromise with opposition parties to deliver a “common-sense” future relationship with the EU.
On Northern Ireland, she said the SNP would do nothing to stand in the way of it achieving a special relationship to the EU, but also that in that scenario the case for a similar arrangement for Scotland “becomes even stronger”.
She said her compromise plan would avoid “the worst economic harms of a hard Brexit, maintain the benefits of free trade and other ties that unite countries across Europe”.
A Department for Exiting
the EU spokesman said: “We will have an ambitious course outside
of the EU that enhances our prosperity and security and that genuinely works for everyone
across the UK.”
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