MICHAEL Gove has been told Scotland will be at a disadvantage over Northern Ireland because of the latter being given a special Brexit deal.

The SNP’s Christine Grahame made the point to the Tory minister yesterday when she quizzed him on the region’s bespoke arrangement which will allow it to have closer trading ties to the EU than the rest of the UK from January 1. Grahame argued that while she understood why Northern Ireland had been given the deal because of its Troubles’s history she argued Scotland should have been allowed a similar one.

And she added: “Somebody who is a processor in Scotland whether it’s fish or meat or anything, there is nothing to stop them relocating to Northern Ireland, setting up there, registering there as a company there and they are tariff-free.

“And this will disadvantage Scotland. There is no doubt about that.”

Gove, the Cabinet Office minister, who is in charge of No Deal planning, responded saying Scots would not be at a disadvantage over Northern Ireland. He told the committee: “I don’t think so. I think Scotland has many many advantages, an educated workforce, a UK Government which stands ready to support them through the power of the Treasury.”

The row follows several senior Scottish Tories – including Ruth Davidson, David Mundell and Adam Tomkins – saying all parts of the UK should have the same form of Brexit and that Northern Ireland should not have a special deal.

The First Minister had repeatedly asked for a bespoke arrangement for Scotland to reflect its remain vote, like Northern Ireland’s.

However, despite EU figures suggesting they would be open to such a proposal, the UK Government rejected the request. The issue has angered the SNP with the party’s Westminster leader Ian Blackford and frontbencher Pete Wishart pressing the Prime Minister and Gove on the situation last week in the Commons.

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Scotland would be entitled to £1.4 billion if the funding was issued based on population, SNP MSP Kenneth Gibson said.

Gove described the Northern Ireland deal last week “as the best of both worlds” – intensifying anger from the SNP.

Wishart told Gove Scotland was facing was the “worst of all worlds”.

He said: “What Northern Ireland has got is great for it. ‘Best of both worlds’ is a phrase that we in Scotland are pretty much familiar with; it is what we were promised in 2014.

“Now, in 2020, we are faced with the worst of all worlds. We would give our right arm for access to the EU single market and unfettered access across the rest of the UK market, so can the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster explain to the Scottish people exactly why Scotland is the only part of the United Kingdom that will not get any part of what it voted for on Brexit?”

Gove also told Holyrood’s Europe committee yesterday he tried to avoid pitting parts of the UK against each other” over funding for preparations to leave the EU.

Scotland has received “just shy” of £200 million to prepare for leaving the EU, he said, while Northern Ireland has been given £400m from the Treasury.

Gove said it was a “fair challenge” to ask why Scotland did not receive a population-based share of funding, but said he wanted to ensure “that the people of Northern Ireland are able to enjoy the fruits of peace and prosperity”.

He went on to say that the UK was built on “solidarity and sharing”, and would help countries within the Union that had faced “challenges” in the past. Despite appearing to reject the idea of more money for Scotland, Gove said the decision will be kept “under review”.

“Pitting one part of the United Kingdom by saying it’s not fair that Northern Ireland benefits ... that’s not the sort of thing that I’m terribly keen on,” he said.

“My view is that the United Kingdom is built on solidarity and sharing, and that the United Kingdom benefits from the fact that those parts of the UK that may have had a tougher time in the past, we stand by and we support.”

“That’s one of the reasons why, from Lanarkshire to Larne, the UK Government spends the money that it does - because we want to show solidarity with those who may have endured whether it was deindustrialisation in the past or other challenges.”