Chamber
Meeting of the Parliament (Hybrid) 28 October 2020
28 Oct 2020 · S5 · Meeting of the Parliament
Item of business
Portfolio Question Time
United Kingdom Trade (Jobs)
Constitution, Europe and External Affairs
I am sad to say that the cabinet secretary did not answer my question.
There is no doubt that Covid has had a devastating impact on jobs. The cabinet secretary has taken every opportunity to make clear his lack of respect for the democratic decision of the UK to end UK membership of the EU, but the fact remains that more than 60 per cent of Scotland’s trade is with the rest of the UK. The Fraser of Allander institute estimates that more than half a million jobs rely on that trade.
As the UK completes our withdrawal from the EU, can the cabinet secretary guarantee that the Scottish Government will put jobs first, and will not compromise Scotland’s frictionless trade with the rest of the UK?
In the same item of business
3. Michelle Ballantyne (South Scotland) (Con)
To ask the Scottish Government what estimate it has made of the number of jobs in Scotland that rely on frictionless trade across the UK, and how that could ...
The Cabinet Secretary for the Constitution, Europe and External Affairs (Michael Russell)
SNP
Both Scotland and the UK have benefited enormously, in terms of jobs, from being part of the European Union single market, with all the economic benefits tha...
Michelle Ballantyne
Con
I am sad to say that the cabinet secretary did not answer my question. There is no doubt that Covid has had a devastating impact on jobs. The cabinet secret...
Michael Russell
SNP
Michelle Ballantyne is labouring under a fallacy that we hear from her colleagues all the time. If it were true that one had to be within a single political ...
Gillian Martin (Aberdeenshire East) (SNP)
SNP
On that theme, what impact does the cabinet secretary believe the UK Government’s decision to leave the Brexit transition period in the middle of a global pa...
Michael Russell
SNP
The contrast between that question and the previous question is stark, because Gillian Martin’s question acknowledges the damage that Brexit will do—in parti...