In the next few days, we expect the Scottish government to bring forward a detailed Brexit paper. We will consider it carefully, and I’m glad the Scottish government will discuss it at the next meeting between the UK government and the devolved administrations in January.
Now I hope this is wrong, but there is a fear Scotland will be told this week that its choice is essentially between a separate deal or a second referendum on independence.
I doubt I am alone in my frustration at this approach because the truth is this: getting the best deal for the UK and making the UK work best is the best way to protect Scotland’s interests.
I have spent the months since June 23 talking with businesses and industry groups across Scotland about their hopes and concerns — and the more work we have done, the more it has become clear that their concerns are not addressed through a separate Scottish deal.
Take access to the single market. I know businesses in Scotland are concerned about this and it is a real priority. But it is just as pressing in Birmingham as Banff.
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Or take migration, where there is an argument, again, that Scotland needs a separate deal. But in recent years the data has shown that there are more seasonal migrant workers on the farms in Kent and Herefordshire than in Scotland. There are parts of Scotland that face pressures from depopulation — but so too do parts of Wales and the north of England.
The facts actually show that the right deal for the UK — the deal that delivers the best possible market access and a controlled immigration system designed around the needs of our economy — will be the right deal for Scotland.
All those I have talked to have little time for confused debates about membership or not of the single market.
They want the best possible market access, the best possible opportunities to grow and to employ the people they need.
They want to preserve the integrity of the UK single market, which is worth four times more to Scotland than the whole of the EU single market.
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They want the UK to be able to strike trade deals on their behalf and they want our common and shared resources to be protected, as they were in the funding settlement agreed this year between the UK and Scottish governments. They also want the UK to be able to continue to meet its international obligations.
We need to work together as one United Kingdom. I hope the Scottish government’s proposals reflect this and we see a commitment to work with the UK government in a Team UK approach. The EU will be negotiating as one united team; the nations of the UK need to do the same. Once we have left the EU, though, there is one area of policy very specific to Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland: what happens to powers currently held by the EU.
Alex Salmond let the cat out of the bag when he admitted that, for the SNP, constitutional chaos would be a good thing. To me it means businesses folding and Scotland’s economy grinding to a halt. The SNP may want to see that happen, but we do not.
No Holyrood powers currently exercised by the Scottish parliament will be re-reserved to Westminster. Beyond that, what we need is mature, sustained engagement about the policy making and powers currently dealt with at EU level, where they should sit, and what frameworks at a UK level are needed to make our country work best.
A clear set of principles have emerged from my discussions with business leaders and others — the need to protect the UK’s single market, harness our shared resources and forge the best trade deals. We should not lose sight of them as we enter this new, complex but vital debate. It is in everyone’s interests we have a Brexit that is smooth and seamless.
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David Mundell is the secretary of state for Scotland