The Saturday Brexit briefing

by Erik Geddes
Posted on
7 years ago
2 min read

When it came to Brexit news, 2018 began much as 2017 ended – with The Tories breaking promises to Scotland on protecting devolution and Labour backing up their extreme Brexit plans.

Only the SNP stood up for Scotland and the 80,000 jobs that rely on our membership of the Single Market. Here’s what you need to know.

This week Jeremy Corbyn confirmed that the Labour Party is committed to ripping Scotland and the UK out of the Single Market and Customs Union – with the same plans for a jobs-destroying Brexit as the UK Tory government.

The SNP continue to campaign to keep Scotland and the UK in the Single Market to save jobs, protect trade and bolster the economy. This week the SNP’s Leader at Westminster Ian Blackford hosted a cross-party Single Market and Customs Union summit – but Corbyn refused to attend.

In a desperate effort to explain why, Jeremy Corbyn exposed how misinformed he is on the Single Market and Customs Union. This backfired on him spectacularly.

But Corbyn’s false claims were unwittingly undermined by Richard Leonard MSP on BBC Radio Scotland before the hapless Scottish Labour leader confirmed his commitment to Corbyn’s hard-line – and indistinguishable from the Tories – Brexit stance.

This week also saw the UK government cabinet reshuffle – and some shambles that turned out to be.

In the midst of the Tory muddle it emerged that UK government had failed to table crucial amendments to the EU Bill over devolved matters. Now the legislation will bypass the House of Commons and go straight to the unelected House of Lords fior review.

This isn’t the first time the Tories have misled and let down the people of Scotland with unfulfilled promises on Brexit.

Even the Tory MSPs at the Scottish Parliament were embarrassed at this latest gaffe – as the Finance and Constitution Committee concludes that the EU Withdrawal Bill is incompatible with the devolution settlement.

Meanwhile the EU issued a “be prepared” warning to UK businesses for a potential no-deal Brexit, as reported in the Financial Times – underlining the urgent need for a cross-party effort to secure single-market membership. While the European position was clearly explained by Guy Verhofstadt.

This came as a surprise of David Davis, the UK Secretary of State for Exiting the European Union, even though it was David who first floated the ‘No Deal’ boat.

This was neatly summed up by the First Minister.