Nicola Sturgeon: Brexit delay not long enough
5 April 2019
Scotland's first minister has called for a lengthy delay to Brexit to allow time for some "sensible ways forward" to be found. The UK is currently due to leave the EU on 12 April - but has asked for this to be extended until 30 June. EU leaders must agree unanimously whether to grant the request when they meet next week. Nicola Sturgeon said the "short-term" extension would merely set up another "cliff edge". Prime Minister Theresa May made her extension request in a letter to the EU after her proposed Brexit deal suffered three defeats in the House of Commons in recent weeks. She has proposed that if a deal is approved in time, the UK should be able to leave before European Parliamentary elections on 23 May. The BBC's Europe editor Katya Adler has been told by a senior EU source that European Council President Donald Tusk will propose a 12-month "flexible" extension to Brexit, with the option of cutting it short if the UK Parliament ratifies a deal. Speaking to BBC Scotland, Ms Sturgeon accused Mrs May of "yet more short-termism and the setting up potentially of another cliff edge". It came as she published an open letter assuring EU nationals living in Scotland that "this is your home, you are welcome here and we want you to stay". The first minister said: "The sensible thing to do in my view, and it seems as if this might be the EU's view as well, is to have a longer extension to allow time for this issue to go back to the people in another referendum rather than continue to have these short-term cliff edges. "The first priority, of course, must be to avoid a no deal exit at the end of next week - but beyond that give some time and space now for some sensible ways forward to be found." Ms Sturgeon also said she believed it was now "more likely than not" that the UK will hold European elections in May, which she predicted would give "some protection" against a no-deal Brexit. She said the election would give people the opportunity to "come out and cast a positive vote for Scotland and the UK as an internationalist country wanting to continue to play our part in Europe". Ms Sturgeon said her preference was still for the UK to remain in the EU, but if that is not possible then she and the SNP would "promote alternatives" such as membership of the single market and customs union. She also said remaining in the EU "will always be an option for Scotland with independence". The first minister pledged in January to give an update on her plans for a second independence referendum "in the coming weeks" even if the Brexit deadline was extended - but has still not done so. Ms Sturgeon said this was because there was "still no clarity in the immediate term about which path the UK is going to take", and added: " I had hoped that we would be at that point by now, but unfortunately I underestimated the incompetence of the UK government". In her letter, the prime minister says the "impasse cannot be allowed to continue", as it was "creating uncertainty and doing damage to faith in politics" in the UK. She said if cross-party talks with the Labour Party could not establish "a single unified approach" in the UK Parliament, MPs would be asked to vote on a series of options instead which the government "stands ready to abide by". She wrote that the UK proposed an extension to the process until 30 June and "accepts the European Council's view that if the United Kingdom were still a member state of the European Union on 23 May 2019, it would be under a legal obligation to hold the elections". To this end, she says the UK is "undertaking the lawful and responsible preparations for this contingency". But it said if a withdrawal agreement could be ratified by Parliament before then "the government proposes that the period should be terminated early" so the UK can leave the EU before then, and cancel preparations for the European Parliamentary elections.
In her letter, the prime minister says the "impasse cannot be allowed to continue", as it was "creating uncertainty and doing damage to faith in politics" in the UK. She said if cross-party talks with the Labour Party could not establish "a single unified approach" in the UK Parliament, MPs would be asked to vote on a series of options instead which the government "stands ready to abide by". She wrote that the UK proposed an extension to the process until 30 June and "accepts the European Council's view that if the United Kingdom were still a member state of the European Union on 23 May 2019, it would be under a legal obligation to hold the elections". To this end, she says the UK is "undertaking the lawful and responsible preparations for this contingency". But it said if a withdrawal agreement could be ratified by Parliament before then "the government proposes that the period should be terminated early" so the UK can leave the EU before then, and cancel preparations for the European Parliamentary elections.
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What does Theresa May's letter to the EU say?