{"id":4087,"date":"2016-10-03T16:54:21","date_gmt":"2016-10-03T16:54:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sceptical.scot\/staging\/?p=4087"},"modified":"2025-12-27T12:45:03","modified_gmt":"2025-12-27T12:45:03","slug":"may-throws-down-gauntlet-to-scotland","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sceptical.scot\/staging\/2016\/10\/may-throws-down-gauntlet-to-scotland\/","title":{"rendered":"May throws down gauntlet to Scotland"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Theresa May\u2019s speech to the Tory party conference on Sunday threw down the gauntlet to the Scottish Parliament and Government in their exploration of options for Scotland to remain in the EU or at least the single market while the rest of the UK leaves.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

She was brief and brutally clear: \u201cWe will negotiate as one United Kingdom, and we will leave the European Union as one United Kingdom\u201d, adding \u201cthere is no opt-out from Brexit\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Nicola Sturgeon\u2019s Standing Council on Europe, currently looking into options for Scotland to stay in the EU and\/or the single market, is \u2013 according to May\u2019s speech \u2013 wasting its time. Scottish Secretary David Mundell reinforced this view on Monday:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n

I think there isn\u2019t anybody over the last few months who suggested any realistic and credible basis on which Scotland could somehow remain in the EU while the rest of the UK left the EU.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

May\u2019s approach discards options such as a \u2018reverse Greenland\u2019 approach \u2013 with Scotland, Northern Ireland and Gibraltar staying in the EU while England and Wales leave \u2013 or Scotland staying in the single market, or at least in some key policy areas, even while rUK leaves. Brexit means Brexit for all.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

She also made clear that the UK would repeal the European Communities Act, control migration and no longer answer to the European Court of Justice \u2013 in other words, the UK will not stay in the single market, and will aim for a bespoke trade deal, having triggered Article 50 by March 2017. This is \u2018hard Brexit\u2019 by any definition.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

How will the Scottish Government, and the Scottish Parliament respond to this? It seems unlikely that the Parliament, and Sturgeon\u2019s Standing Council, will simply stop exploring Scotland\u2019s options to have a differentiated relationship with the EU compared to rUK. But will they challenge Theresa May on her stance now?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

May\u2019s language seems clear enough. But a rapid demand for clarification is surely in order, asking:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

(1) Is the UK government definitively ruling out Scotland staying in the EU while the rUK leaves?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

(2) Is the UK government ruling out Scotland staying in the EU\u2019s single market if rUK has a less integrated, bespoke trade deal with the EU?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

(3) Is the UK government ruling out Scotland having any differentiated policy relationship with the EU, compared to rUK, when the UK leaves the EU, even in areas of devolved competence?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

May\u2019s speech indicates the answer to all three questions is \u2018yes, we are ruling that out\u2019, so how will Scotland\u2019s government and parliament respond?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Do they accept this \u2013 in which case Scotland\u2019s choice is clear: Brexit with rUK or independence in the EU. Or do they challenge it \u2013 in which case, how quickly can they come up with a preferred, realistic option for a differentiated Brexit?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Any options for Scotland to stay, at least partly, in the EU while rUK leaves were always going to depend on political will as well as technical feasibility. Theresa May has made her position clear. What is Nicola Sturgeon’s?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

First published by the Centre on Constitutional Change<\/a> and reproduced with permission<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

“Any options for Scotland to stay, at least partly, in the EU while rUK leaves were always going to depend on political will as well as technical feasibility. Theresa May has made her position clear. What is Nicola Sturgeon’s?” The stakes get higher.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[421],"tags":[31,30,36],"class_list":["post-4087","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-international","tag-eu-referendum","tag-europe","tag-scottish-government"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sceptical.scot\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4087","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sceptical.scot\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sceptical.scot\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sceptical.scot\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sceptical.scot\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4087"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/sceptical.scot\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4087\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":17979,"href":"https:\/\/sceptical.scot\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4087\/revisions\/17979"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sceptical.scot\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4087"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sceptical.scot\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4087"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sceptical.scot\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4087"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}