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Scottish consent for ‘Hard Brexit’ unlikely says Green MSP

A meeting of the British-Irish Parliamentary Assembly has heard that they should not expect the Scottish Parliament to consent to a damaging Brexit deal that the country didn’t vote for.

In Cardiff, an exchange between Ross Greer MSP and Robin Walker MP, Minister for Exiting the European Union, led the Green MSP to believe that Scotland is unlikely to be offered any flexibility in its Brexit deal. In the following debate Greer made clear to members that if the Supreme Court rules that the consent of the Scottish Parliament is required to activate Article 50, they should not expect that consent to be granted.

West of Scotland MSP and Scottish Greens European spokesperson, Ross Greer said:

“I asked the under-secretary for Brexit if the UK government acknowledges, that at the very least, Scotland requires a deal which preserves much closer links with the EU than the UK, as a whole, is currently heading towards. After his answer I am no clearer and can only go by the Westminster government’s behaviour so far. It now seems that a separate deal for Scotland is highly unlikely and we’ll be lumped into the Tories’ disastrous Hard Brexit agenda.

“In the following debate of representatives from across these islands, I made the point that there’s a strong chance we’re heading towards the agreement of the devolved parliaments and assemblies being required before Brexit can begin. It feels like the Westminster government is merely sending ministers out on meetings to run the clock down and hope that there will be no need to announce a plan before attempting to trigger Article 50 early next year. It’s increasingly clear that Westminster only pays lip service to the interests of the people of Scotland and our economy.”