NICOLA Sturgeon should ask President Trump for help in securing her plan for a bespoke Scottish deal on Brexit, according to a former leader of the SNP.
Gordon Wilson said the First Minister should exploit Mr Trump’s Hebridean roots and enlist him in her fight with Theresa May over Scotland’s membership of the EU single market.
Mrs May last week declared the UK would be outside the single market after Brexit, while her ministers gave short shrift to Ms Sturgeon’s proposal for Scotland to stay in it regardless.
Read more: Trump hails America's "most special relationship" with Britain as PM hits it off with President
In an open letter to Ms Sturgeon, Mr Wilson said the Prime Minister would outline her plans for a "hard-line divorce” of the UK from the EU in Friday's meeting with Mr Trump.
He said it was “unlikely” she would tell him “one of the negotiating cards will be to surrender Scottish fishing waters (including those off the Western Isles) to Spanish fishing boats”.
Referring to Mr Trump’s mother, Mary MacLeod, coming from Lewis, he went on: “For the first time, the President of the United States has strong Scottish connections.
“Controversial though his political views may be, it is the duty of the Scottish Government to use these connections to Scotland’s advantage, especially when we are facing a ‘British’ Government demonstrating an indifference to Scottish interests bordering on hostility.
“It is essential that the Scottish Government let the new American administration know the facts and to correct the case put forward by Mrs May on behalf of the British Government which is politically unrepresentative of Scotland with only one MP out of 59.
“American Presidents have intervened in internal UK politics frequently in the past from President Bill Clinton in the Northern Ireland Peace Process to President Obama on the issues of Scottish independence and Europe.
“It is therefore not unreasonable for you as head of the Scottish Government to ask President Trump to make it a condition of any intended trade deal with the UK that the outcome of the Brexit negotiations should be fair to all parts of the UK, rather than solely suit the interests of England, the majority nation in the UK comity of nations.”
Read more: Trump hails America's "most special relationship" with Britain as PM hits it off with President
Mr Wilson, SNP leader from 1979 to 1990, this week accused Ms Sturgeon of “pointless posturing” in warning of a second referendum if she did not get a Scottish Brexit deal.
Ms Sturgeon openly supported Hillary Clinton in the US Presidential race, and said many of Mr Trump’s campaign comments had been “deeply abhorrent”.
However she congratulated him on his victory and had a brief phone call with him after he was elected, raising “the longstanding relationship between Scotland and the US”.
She also congratulated him on his recent inauguration as the 45th President.
Ms Sturgeon’s plan for a separate Scottish deal on Brexit relies on the UK government and the other 27 EU nations devising an unprecedented arrangement on Scotland’s behalf.
However SNP MP John Nicolson was stumped on the BBC’s This Week on Thursday, after being asked if could “name a single leading European” who thought Ms Sturgeon’s idea possible.
He said: “Since you put me on the spot, no I can’t. But I think it’s a perfectly reasonable argument for the Scottish Government to advance.”
Read more: Trump hails America's "most special relationship" with Britain as PM hits it off with President
A spokesperson for SNP Brexit minister Michael Russell said: “It is quite true to say that the Tories, with just one MP out of 59 in Scotland, have no mandate for the catastrophic hard Brexit they are pursuing – but they now think they can do what they want to Scotland and get away with it.
“However, the Scottish Government will continue to pursue every possible option to keep our place in the European single market, which is around eight times bigger than the UK’s alone, and is essential for jobs, investment and the economy.”
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