NICOLA Sturgeon has been urged by one of her predecessors to make a direct request to the European Union for a Scottish-only extension to the current transition period in order to protect the country from dealing with a No-Deal Brexit while fighting the coronavirus pandemic and an economic recession.

Former first minister Henry McLeish made the plea as the deadline for a request approaches at the end of this month, and after Boris Johnson has insisted he will not be seeking one.

Under the current Brexit implementation period, the UK remains in the European single market and customs union, allowing free movement of goods, services and people. The EU has said it would accept a further extension.

However, the arrangement expires on December 31 this year and unless a new agreement is reached, the UK will crash out on a No-deal basis and face high trade levies on imports and exports, potentially pushing up consumer costs. Talks on the new trade relationship between the two sides have made little progress.

“We can’t hang around and wait for the triple challenge to Scotland of a health pandemic, an economic recession and a No-deal Brexit,” McLeish told The National.

“Nicola Sturgeon could ask for a Scotland-only extension. She could say ‘as First Minister, I am making direct representations to Brussels for Scotland to be exempt from leaving on January 1’ – acknowledging she is only speaking for Scotland – and pointing out Scotland voted to remain.

“She could be showing the rest of the United Kingdom we are sufficiently concerned about Scotland, that she is making a direct approach. This is beyond UK politics, its beyond UK left or right. This is about the survival of an economy and society which does not need the menace of a [No-deal] Brexit looming.”

Under the Withdrawal Agreement, it is up to the UK Government to seek an extension for the whole of the UK. As well as requesting a Scottish extension, McLeish urged Scottish ministers to lobby for a UK-wide one.

He said: “There are going to be incredible consequences and challenges ahead from the pandemic. We need time as nations and as the United Kingdom to move forward, deal with the issues and then have a long, hard look at what might be a very different future.

“In that context, I think it is serious enough for the Scottish Government, who lack legal powers in this area, to be speaking to the negotiators in Brussels, to be speaking to the European Parliament, to be speaking to the Commission to make it clear that is about delaying exit, nothing more.

“The United Kingdom can’t handle, in my judgement, a health emergency, an economic recession with possibly worse to come, and exiting from the European Union.

“In Scotland ... we should be making this case. I think if we don’t then we are not identifying what a serious problem this will be. I think we are giving notice to Westminster that they should stop being distracted and concentrate on the issues.”

The former Labour first minister said it would be “irresponsible” for Johnson not to request the extension for a further two years until the end of December 2022. He also gave a scathing assessment of Johnson’s handling of the pandemic and his refusal to sack Dominic Cummings over lockdown breaches. He compared Cummings to Donald Trump’s former advisor Steve Bannon.

“Johnson is holding on to Cummings for two reasons – one, to see that Brexit is delivered, and secondly, to use Bannon’s words, ‘to smash the administrative state’ – basically to change the civil service. It’s a legacy of the Brexit campaign.”