IT is not surprising that during the Covid crisis, Brexit and the progress of the UK negotiations with the EU have gone off the radar for most people.
Fortunately, now that the Westminster Parliament is sitting again, it is becoming more difficult for the UK Government and their chief negotiator David Frost to evade scrutiny.
On Monday, the Select Committee on the Future Relationship with the European Union (formerly the Brexit select committee) sat remotely to take evidence from Michael Gove to try to make sense of the Government’s position. It would seem that information is still thin on the ground, with the Scottish Government, in particular, being left in the dark.
It seems an age since the UK finally exited the EU on January 31, and we are now well into the transition period which ends on December 31 this year. During this period the UK remains part of the single market and customs union but as a third country, rather than a member state with voting rights, while the future trade relationship between the UK and the EU is negotiated.
Normally Free Trade Agreements (FTAs) between the EU and third countries take years to negotiate. The UK has given itself only a few months. Some argue the negotiations should be easy as we are starting from a point of alignment, however, whereas FTAs are normally about creating convergence, the British Government have made it clear that they wish to diverge as much as possible.
Due to the coronavirus crisis, negotiations have proceeded by video conferencing in compliance with social distancing measures. Progress has unfortunately been slow. According to Michel Barnier, the European Commission’s Head of Task Force for Relations with the United Kingdom, the UK does not want to commit seriously on a number of fundamental points.
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It is hard to see how an agreement can be reached by the deadline. However, the UK Government have been adamant that they won’t request an extension and that they are prepared to leave the single market and customs union without any agreement.
It would seem that as far as the UK Government are concerned, it’s full steam ahead to the iceberg regardless of the coronavirus crisis, except of course when it comes to keeping the devolved governments in the loop. This is unacceptable for many reasons, not least because some of the most problematic areas which are currently under discussion, for example, fisheries and the so-called “level playing field”, are of huge importance to the Scottish economy and yet we are afforded no consultation or involvement.
The Joint Ministerial Committee for EU Negotiations is supposed to be a forum which brings together ministers from the UK and devolved governments, but it has not met since January 28, despite the best efforts of Michael Russell, Scotland’s minister for Brexit and relations with the UK Government, and his Welsh Government counterpart. Gove was at his most slippery when questioned over this deliberate obstruction, arguing that he has spoken with Scottish Government ministers regularly during the Covid crisis. However, the point is that he has not spoken to them about progress on negotiations with the EU. When pinned down on this matter, he said there will be a formal meeting within the next two weeks. We shall see.
All of this holds crucial lessons for the SNP and the independence movement.
Throughout Monday’s evidence, Gove complained that the EU seems unable to understand that the UK is now “an independent sovereign nation” and must be treated as such.
When Scotland finally votes to take back control it will be useful to remind him or whoever we are negotiating with how important it is that Scotland’s sovereignty is respected.
There are other more immediate lessons.
Despite the coronavirus crisis, the UK Government aren’t holding back from progressing their Brexit agenda, for which they constantly remind us they have the mandate of the British people. It doesn’t matter to them that that doesn’t include the Scots, and it won’t ever matter to them unless we make it matter by asserting the mandate which we hold.
Next time the Scottish Tories say that continuing to talk about independence is irresponsible during the current crisis, they should be forcefully reminded that their London bosses haven’t let the current crisis stop them from pursuing the constitutional agenda for which they have a mandate. What’s sauce for the goose …
The SNP and the independence movement must not be bullied or indeed flattered into stopping talking about independence.
Director of Common Weal Robin McAlpine has argued with some passion that there are many things about the current crisis that make it all the more important that we keep discussing and working towards the very different Scotland that the Yes movement holds dear to its heart. He makes the point that smaller nations or decentralised ones like Germany have handled the current crisis much better than larger nations. To that, I would add those who listened to the World Health Organisation (WHO) mantra of test, trace, isolate rather than insisting on their own exceptionalism.
In this newspaper earlier this week, George Kerevan wrote that the imminent likelihood of Scotland exiting the single market under disastrous WTO rules should if anything be a clarion call to reboot the independence referendum campaign. He is right.
The aftermath of the current crisis will be a time not just for fine words but for translating our aspirations for a greener and fairer economy into reality.
Who really thinks that is likely to happen while we are still tethered to the UK?
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Callum Baird, Editor of The National
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