Meeting of the Parliament 28 June 2016
In my first speech in this Parliament, I said that I wanted the UK to remain in the EU. As such—like most members on the Conservative and all other benches—to say that I am disappointed in last week’s result is something of an understatement. Indeed, my real reaction to the result is incapable of being translated into parliamentary language. Since Friday morning, I have seen nothing to make me think that I was wrong, and that leave was the better outcome—either for our country or for the European public interest. However, in my speech today, I want to look to the future—not hark back to a campaign lost.
The people of the UK voted to leave the EU. That much is clear—but only that much. Exactly what leaving the EU now means is anything but clear. There is not merely an opportunity but an obligation for all of us here, whether or not we wanted that outcome, to begin to flesh out what we think leave should now mean. We are going to enter into long negotiations with our European partners, and the first task is to identify exactly what it is that we will be negotiating to achieve.
The First Minister has said that she wants to preserve Scotland’s position in the EU. That is fine, but quite what that means is also unclear. Of course, Scotland is not—and never has been—one of the EU’s member states. The vote in Scotland last week sought to preserve the UK’s status as a member state—not to insist that Scotland becomes a new member state.
The First Minister has also said that she will appoint an expert advisory panel to look at what she has described as “all the options”. I welcome that, and I offer to assist in any way I can.
So, what should leave mean, and what are the options for Scotland? To my mind, leave should mean that we retain full access to the EU’s single market. As I understand it, even the small number of MSPs who advocated a leave vote are of the view that we should maintain as full access to the single market as is possible.
We may be, as has been said several times since Friday morning, in uncharted territory. However, there are still some things that we know. One of them is that leaving the EU’s political institutions does not mean that we have to leave the EU’s single market, for there are several countries, including Norway—a place the SNP often likes to talk about—that have just such an arrangement.
What are the options for Scotland? Again, they are many, and our obligation now is to begin to put some flesh on the bones. Let me give an example. At the moment, it is outwith the legislative competence of this Parliament to enact law that is incompatible with EU law. We, as a Parliament, could perfectly easily maintain that rule even after the UK ceases to be an EU member state. We could, for example, pass an act to provide that all Scottish legislation is to be read and given effect subject to EU law, and we could confer on the Court of Session the jurisdiction to quash any of our legislation that is incompatible with European law. All that is perfectly possible within our current legislative competence.
I do not pretend that the last few days have been easy. We have lost a Prime Minister, there is volatility in the markets and we face the prospect of difficult and protracted negotiations. However, one positive note to have been struck in the past few days is the point strongly made by the Prime Minister that, in those negotiations, the Scottish Government, along with the devolved Administrations in Northern Ireland and Wales, should play a leading role. As the Prime Minister said, it is important—it is vital—that the interests of all parts of the UK are represented effectively and properly in those negotiations.
Had those advocating Scottish independence won their referendum in September 2014, First Minister Alex Salmond said that he would put together an all-party team Scotland to negotiate on behalf of the nation. Likewise, the UK Government will now put together an inclusive team to negotiate on behalf of all our nations: England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. That is as it should be, and I very much hope that the Scottish Government will play a leading role in that team. Again, I offer the Scottish Government any support that it may think that I could usefully give.
Scots now want to see their politicians working together in the best interests of the country. This is not where we want to be—