ENVIRONMENT Secretary Roseanna Cunningham has stepped up calls for Boris Johnson to halt his Brexit plans to ensure all public resources can be spent fighting the effects of the coronavirus.

Her call comes just days after Scotland’s Constitutional Affairs Secretary Michael Russell urged

the Prime Minister to extend the EU/UK transition period in light of the pandemic.

He made the plea after the Scottish Government announced planning for a second independence referendum this year had been paused.

Cunningham was speaking ahead of today’s Inter-Ministerial Group for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs meeting, 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.”

She added: “There is considerable 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 [Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs] 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.”

Last week Johnson was accused of “putting his head in the sand” over the threat posed by the coronavirus outbreak to a Brexit deal, after saying he has no intention of extending talks with the EU.

The Prime Minister is coming under growing pressure to ditch his self-imposed deadline of December 31 to reach a trade agreement with the remaining 27 states or take Britain to a No-Deal Brexit on disadvantageous World Trade Organisation terms. Many in Brussels are expecting a climbdown after the second round of talks, due to take place in London last week, were cancelled due to the health emergency on both sides of the Channel.

Michel Barnier, 69, who is leading the trade talks for the Brussels side, tested positive last week for the coronavirus, while the UK’s chief negotiator with Brussels went into self-isolation after showing symptoms of the illness. David Frost, 55, who is tasked securing a trade deal with the European Union, has shown mild signs of the virus. The EU has made clear it would accept a request for an extension to the 11-month negotiation process, which was regarded as extremely tight even before Covid-19 hit Europe.

But asked at a Downing Street press conference whether he would seek an extension beyond the end of 2020, Johnson replied: “It’s not a subject that’s being regularly discussed, I can tell you, in Downing Street at the moment.

“And we’re getting on with it. There’s legislation in place that I have no intention of changing.”

The precise time of 11pm on New Year’s Eve this year is enshrined in law in the European Union (Withdrawal Agreement) Act passed by parliament earlier this year.

Last week Russell set out the indyref2 decision in a letter to Cabinet office minister Michael Gove, and asked the UK Government to likewise pause its Brexit negotiations with the EU for six months.

Russell wrote: “Because of the crisis, the Scottish Government has paused work on preparing for an independence referendum this year … that will allow us to focus all available resource on current and future demands in what is an unprecedented set of circumstances.

“It follows from this that a referendum will not take place this year.

“We would now strongly suggest to the UK Government the time has come for an equivalent action by you with regard to the Brexit process, and would ask you to institute a pause to EU/UK negotiations for at least six months,” he added.