Calls for Home Office to pay Scotland's Brexit policing costs

Earlier this week, the force’s Chief Constable Iain Livingstone warned that 400 of his officers could be needed to deal with the consequences of the UK crashing out of the EU with no deal.

That could include potential public disorder, disruption at ports and airports, and the need for officers to be deployed to Northern Ireland.

Speaking at a board meeting of the Scottish Police Authority (SPA), the Chief said: “The financial sustainability that we need to establish will be threatened by some of the operational decisions I need to make around Brexit.

“There is a significant risk that without additional funding, the budget will result in a larger deficit than previously stated if officer numbers are retained at current levels.

“In this regard, it is important to publicly underline that the consequences of Brexit have not yet led to necessary additional funding being allocated to Scottish policing.”

Livingstone said his priority was to ensure that people in Scotland were “effectively protected, policed and kept secure”.

He said the UK Treasury had made additional funding available to the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI), and to policing and law enforcement in England and Wales.

The SNP’s Rona Mackay, who sits on the Scottish Parliament’s Justice Committee, called on the Tories to pay.

“The risk of disorder, disruption at ports and airports, and the need for Scottish police officers to be redeployed to help forces elsewhere are outcomes becoming all too possible in the event of a ‘No Deal’.

“But this is not a mess of Scotland’s making.

“We voted Remain, we voted for stability and security in Europe and it’s a situation created by the Tory government against our express will.

“On that basis, it’s only fair that the Treasury foots the bill for all contingency costs incurred by Police Scotland.”

Meanwhile, Downing Street has clashed with Brussels after the EU described Gibraltar as a “colony”.

The row was triggered by a footnote on the draft European Council document which states: “Gibraltar is a colony of the British Crown.

“There is a controversy between Spain and the United Kingdom concerning the sovereignty over Gibraltar, a territory for which a solution has to be reached in light of the relevant resolutions and decisions of the General Assembly of the United Nations.”

The Prime Minister’s official spokesman said: “It is completely unacceptable to describe Gibraltar in this way.

“Gibraltar is a full part of the UK family and has a mature and modern constitutional relationship with the UK.

“This will not change due to our exit from the EU. All parties should respect the people of Gibraltar’s democratic wish to be British.”

But Dr Tanzil Chowdhury, from Queen Mary’s School of Law told the Guardian that the EU’s claim that Gibraltar was a colony had “weight, given the UK parliament and crown still retain unlimited powers to legislate for the Rock and that it has been listed by the UN as a non-self-governing territory since 1946”.