SNP leader Nicola Sturgeon will march Scotland over ‘cliff edge’ on Brexit, claims First Secretary of State Damian Green
The minister warned that refusing to back the Government’s EU withdrawal bill in a row over fishing and agriculture powers would leave huge holes in Scottish laws
FIRST Secretary of State Damian Green risked infuriating Nicola Sturgeon yesterday by suggesting the SNP is marching Scotland over a “cliff edge” on Brexit.
He said refusing to back the Government’s EU withdrawal bill in a row over fishing and agriculture powers would leave huge holes in Scotland’s statute book.
And he predicted the Nationalists would ultimately see sense and back down.
Speaking in Scotland after stand off talks yesterday he said: “We want to avoid - anywhere in the UK - a cliff edge on Brexit day, where there are gaps in the statute book.
“The last thing anyone wants is for us suddenly to discover we haven’t got regulations covering food safety, to take an example.”
But angry SNP chiefs bosses insisted he was “kidding himself” as they vowed not to back down.
Speaking in Edinburgh, Mr Green said one possible result of Scottish MSPs refusing to grant consent to the EU Withdrawal Bill would be that it doesn’t apply in Scotland.
He suggested this could mean there is nothing to replace a raft of Brussels rules, which will no longer be valid after Brexit.
But he refused to say if the Tories would overrule Holyrood in the event of MSPs voting down a routine motion to give Westminster permission to make changes affecting Scotland.
He said: “It is clear it would be hugely undesirable for Scotland to have any gaps in Scots law.
“That’s one of the reasons it’s so important that we do bring these discussions to a successful conclusion before we get to April 2019.”
He also predicted the SNP would back down because if they don’t, their stance could scupper repatriated powers coming to Holyrood.
He added: “This process should end up with more powers coming to Scotland than are exercised here at the moment. We get there by agreeing what those powers should be, and when we’ve got to that point I can’t imagine the Scottish Government is going to object to that.”
The SNP want repatriated powers to come straight to Holyrood - and for MSPs to decide if they will link up with UK-wide rules.
But the Tories want to set “common frameworks” across Britain before handing the remainder of powers to Scotland.
Mr Green used the example of food labelling to argue for why Westminster should decide on UK-wide rules first.
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He said: “We might decide that has to be done on a UK-wide basis, so that if you’re making jam in Dundee, you don’t want to to have to run a completely separate production line if you want to sell it in Newcastle, because England has got a different set of food labelling standards from Scotland.”
Last night, a senior SNP source said they would not back down, and that pressing ahead without MSPs consent would be “trampling all over devolution”.
The insider said: “If Damian Green thinks we’re not serious, he’s not been paying attention. He’s kidding himself.”