A LEADING EU expert has called on Scottish political parties to launch their own campaign to reverse Brexit.
Dr Kirsty Hughes, the director of the Scottish Centre on European Relations who is also a researcher, writer and commentator on European politics and policy, says "all Brexit options are damaging".
She said that while Scotland voted 62 per cent to 38 per cent to remain in the EU, along with Northern Ireland - still without a government - Scotland was the pro-EU public voice of the UK.
Dr Hughes said: "The language of ‘soft’ or ‘softer’ Brexit is misleading.
"There are just various types of damaging Brexit – and, on these estimates, do not expect schools and hospitals to avoid the damage.
"Why aren’t Scotland’s politicians calling to reverse Brexit?"
She said: "The answer lies in part in the divisions over independence, in part in the nervousness of all parties to challenge the UK narrow vote to leave the UK a year ago.
"Public opinion does not appear to have shifted from its 52 per cent to 48 per cent decision to leave since last year – but then there has been no political lead at all on the ‘remain’ side for the UK as a whole.
"That nervousness led the Lib Dems to argue for a second EU referendum once there is a Brexit deal, rather than to continue to argue against Brexit and for a second referendum straight away. But on the current chaotic trends of UK politics, there will be no Brexit deal – or at least not one that will get through the Commons.
"Nor is all the vital domestic legislation, needed in the next 18 months to replace EU legal and regulatory structures so the UK can continue to function once we leave, likely to get through the House of Commons either."
It comes after business leaders demanded that devolved nations secure a seat at the table during Brexit negotiations, in a plea that echoes calls from the Scottish Government.
Directors of the Scottish, Welsh and Northern Irish offices of the Confederation of British Industry (CBI) have jointly called on the UK government to re-appraise its approach to leaving the EU.
They want to see more involvement for their regions' governments, saying the devolved nations should be "partners, not strangers" in the Brexit talks.
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