Simon Johnson , Scottish Political Editor

Nicola
Sturgeon’s Brexit Minister was has been castigated for suggesting the
EU single market is more important to Scottish companies than trade with
England ahead of Theresa May setting out her hopes of creating a “more
united” UK.
Mike Russell warned the Prime Minister is
planning to take Scotland out of a single market “eight times bigger
than the UK’s alone” – a claim that refers to the EU’s larger population
but not the scale of Scottish goods and services exported there.
The Conservatives accused the SNP of trying to
paint a picture of “economic Armageddon” when Scotland’s trade with the
rest of the UK is worth more than four times as much as that with the
Continent.
The most recent official figures showed Scotland exports £48.5 billion of goods to the rest of the UK every year compared to £11.6 billion to the EU. Updated statistics will be published next week showing the huge disparity in Scottish exports to the UK and the Continent.
Mr Russell also today stepped up the SNP’s
renewed push for independence by warning that the Conservatives “will
think they can get away with anything” if, as expected, Mrs May confirms
today that the UK is leaving the EU single market and customs union.
The Prime Minister will refer to Nicola
Sturgeon’s demand for a second independence referendum by stating that
she wants the United Kingdom to emerge from Brexit “stronger, fairer,
more united and more outward-looking than ever before.”

Kezia
Dugdale, the Scottish Labour leader, also warned that a separate
Scotland faces being left outside of both the EU and the UK if the
Nationalists won a second referendum.
A major Brexit debate is being staged at
Holyrood this afternoon and Mr Russell called for MSPs to unite around a
Scottish Government motion supporting a
controversial blueprint unveiled by Ms Sturgeon that claims Scotland
could stay in the single market even if the rest of the UK leaves.
It also argued that independence should not be
ruled out. Referring to the relative populations of the EU and the UK,
he said: “The threat of a Tory hard Brexit, taking us out of a single
market eight times bigger than the UK’s alone, is getting bigger by the
day.
“The Tories now seem to think they can they
can do what they want and Scotland will simply accept it – and if they
get away with dragging us out of the EU and Single Market then they will
think they can get away with anything.”
He said the sharp decline in the value of the
pound was a sign of the “disastrous economic consequences” of a hard
Brexit and repeated his claim that Ms Sturgeon’s blueprint represented a
“compromise” that Mrs May was duty bound to consider carefully.
The proposal involved the devolution of nearly
every power to Holyrood, including immigration, and the creation of a
separate business regime from the rest of the UK.
Experts have warned this would create a hard economic border with England and the Spanish government has already ruled out a separate deal for Scotland, thereby appearing to kill off the plan as all other 27 EU member states would have to agree.
Dean Lockhart, the Scottish Tories’ Shadow
Economy Minister, said: “Listening to the SNP, you would be forgiven for
thinking that the EU accounted for the majority of our trade and that
leaving it will result in economic Armageddon.
“That is simply not the case, as our trade
with the UK is worth over four times more than our trade with the rest
of the EU.” He urged SNP ministers to work with their UK counterparts
“to get the best Brexit deal for everyone.”

Ms
Dugdale used a speech to the David Hume Institute yesterday to argue
that an independence referendum would now have to happen between January
2018 and March 2019, following Ms Sturgeon’s disclosure that one will
not be held this year.
The Scottish Labour leader said: “A referendum
after that date would mean potentially leaving Scotland outside of the
EU and outside of the UK - a set of circumstances that would see us lose
the economic relationship with both our largest trading partners.”
She also argued that Scotland could have a
different immigration policy following Brexit despite warnings this
would mean the creation of border controls with England.
Her speech came after the principal of one of
Scotland’s most eminent universities warned Theresa May’s Government
yesterday that ignoring expert opinion on Brexit would be an act of
"economic self-sabotage".
Professor Anton Muscatelli, the head of the
University of Glasgow, argued that those with knowledge and expertise
about the EU should not be side-lined during the UK’s negotiations with
the EU “in a quest for political or ideological purity.”
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