SCOTLAND’S Constitution Secretary Michael Russell yesterday called for an “unthinkable” No Deal to be taken off the table – as the UK and EU agreed to extend their Brexit negotiations.

Decisive talks between Prime Minister Boris Johnson and European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen ended with the two sides agreeing to extend the deadline for a deal to be struck.

There has been no date set for further negotiations, with the UK due to leave the EU in less than three weeks, but the two said they would “keep going for as long as they still think a deal is possible”, a source said.

Earlier, Russell said: “It is now time for the crippling uncertainty over the future of our trading relationship with the European Union to come to an end.

“Whatever the outcome of these protracted talks we know there will be very significant damage to Scotland’s economy and society because of the UK Government’s decision to leave the transition period on December 31 in the middle of a pandemic and a recession.

“But we also know that the worst outcome of all would be the disastrous impact of a No-Deal Brexit which would lead to significant tariffs and the UK Government must rule this out immediately.”

Before the talks were extended, the Constitution Secretary described leaving without a deal as “unthinkable”.

Russell also hit out at Brexit “madness” after a Scotland Office Minister said trade tariffs were not “the end of the world”. Tory MP David Duguid played down the cost of Brexit in an interview with the BBC’s Sunday Politics Scotland.

He said that while “there’s nothing stopping businesses relocating to anywhere in the world” from Scotland, he thinks it’s unlikely that new barriers to trade would see firms move their operations.

And the UK Government Minister cited a conversation with a seafood processor for proof of why fears on tariffs are “overstated”, saying that the man “suggested that the tariffs being proposed would be no more or less than currency fluctuations that would be experienced over a six month period”.

But Russell told the programme Duguid was talking “nonsense”, with tariffs on lamb potentially set at 60%. He said: “That’s not currency fluctuation, that’s disaster.”

On suggestions that Westminster could deploy the navy in a post-Brexit fishing war, Russell called that “utterly insane”, adding: “If we’re talking about selling fish to people and we’re trying to force them out of the waters then they’ll stop buying and we’ll be in desperate trouble.”

Calling for “a very calm approached to a crisis that has been made by the UK Government”, he went on: “This is insanity compared to where we were and what we could do and what Scotland can do as an independent member of the EU, because that is now the centre stage issue — how on earth could we get away from this madness?”

Earlier, Russell told the BBC that the Scottish Government has not been able to undertake the proposed expansion of the port at Cairnryan – used for transit to and from Northern Ireland – in preparation for Brexit because Westminster would not agree to fund it.

He said: “All the arrangements we have made are to meet worst case scenario. The reality is we are doing everything we can to avoid disaster foisted upon us but we cannot do

everything. There should be a pause on this.”

The Northern Ireland Protocol will allow businesses there continue free trade with the EU, regardless of the terms for the rest of the UK.

Duguid said that’s on account of the land border with the Republic of Ireland and rejected claims that Scotland, which likewise voted to Remain, should also get a special deal.

He said the UK Internal Market should be “kept separate from the EU as much as possible”.

That’s despite calls from the SNP, Scotland’s biggest party and party of government, to create a set-up that

caters to Scotland’s needs. Kirsten Oswald, the SNP’s deputy Westminster leader, commented: “The Scottish Tories have always put their party above all else, but these comments from a serving UK Government Minister are beyond belief.

“Not only are the Scottish Tories defying their constituents who voted overwhelmingly to protect our EU membership and the rights that come with it, they are in fact the handmaidens of a hard Tory Brexit that will make Scotland immeasurably poorer and worse off.

“Northern Ireland voted to Remain and got a special deal in place. Just this week, Northern Ireland got £400 million from the UK Government – that was absolutely right – but Scotland meanwhile gets nothing.

“Scotland also voted to Remain and our voice has consistently been sidelined, silenced and ignored by Westminster. As the Brexit crisis comes ever closer to crunch time, Scotland looks on in horror.

“It’s now clearer than ever that successive Westminster governments don’t care about Scotland - only with independence can we realise our full potential and take our seat among the European family of independent nations.”