MICHAEL Gove’s claims that the EU could put “at threat the integrity” of the Union if Tory MPs fail to back the Internal Market Bill have been rubbished by an MSP.
UK ministers have admitted the legislation will breach international law – and it has also been described as a power grab on the devolved nations.
The First Minister warned this week that the bill will “cripple” devolution, adding independence is now the only way to save the Scottish Parliament.
The Internal Market Bill seeks to override the Withdrawal Agreement signed by the Prime Minister last year – and UK Government figures are trying to stave off a rebellion from MPs unhappy that it breaks international law.
READ MORE: Michael Gove: EU is threatening the integrity of the Union
Urging Tories to back the bill, the Prime Minister claimed the bloc wants to “carve up” the UK – and this morning Cabinet Office minister Gove echoed his comments.
He told BBC Breakfast: "We're doing our part - generously - to help protect the EU's own single market, but we're clear that what we can't have even as we're doing all that is the EU disrupting and putting at threat the integrity of the United Kingdom."
SNP MSP George Adam said the minister is so “blinded” by Brexiteer ideology that he can’t see the situation for what it is.
He told The National: “Michael Gove is so blinded by his anti-EU obsession – and so panicked by the rising tide of support for independence – that he fails to realise the biggest threat to the Union is his own party.
"It is not the EU but Brexit, the looming threat of a catastrophic No-Deal, and the Tories’ outrageous attempted power grab on Holyrood which are seeing support for independence climb higher and higher.
“The Tory Party can try to argue that white is black until they are blue in the face, but the reality is that the longer Westminster chooses to treat the people of Scotland like fools the further support for independence will rise."
Adam’s comments came as a new Survation poll yesterday put support for independence at 53%, following on from several surveys over the summer showing the number between 53-55%.
This morning Economy Secretary Fiona Hyslop (below) wrote to the UK Government with her concern over the Internal Market Bill, legislation rejected by all Holyrood parties but the Scottish Tories.
In her letter to Business Secretary Alok Sharma she warned the legislation jeopardises Scotland’s food and drink sector and undermines progress made on post-Brexit common frameworks.
Referencing the economic challenges posed by Covid-19, she said: “Unnecessary legislation, which undermines devolution, on top of an entirely unnecessary end to the Brexit transition period will do nothing to protect or promote trade across the UK and beyond.
“If this legislation were already in place, Scotland would not have been able to lead the way on the ban on smoking in public, on introducing minimum unit pricing for alcohol, having rules on the marketing of raw milk consistent with the nature of the dairy sector in Scotland, or taking forward bans on the sale of plastic-stemmed cotton buds and microbeads in cosmetics.
“A linked concern is the prospect of the UK entering into future international trade agreements which might result in lower standard products being accepted into UK markets. Scotland’s world-leading food and drink sector, for example, is built on a reputation for the highest quality produce and nothing should be done to put that at risk.”
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