NEXT week it’s once more unto the political breach that is Brexit. Talks with the EU are due to start even if confusion and contention still reign over whether soft, hard, customs union, single market, free movement or variations on said themes are what the UK wants.
It’s far from the ideal place to be at the beginning of such crucial negotiations but it is where the country now finds itself.
Despite the conciliatory political mood music coming from Merkel and Macron suggesting the UK is still welcome in the European fold, there appears to have been little interest in that option this side of the Channel, even from the pro-EU parties.
Even here in Scotland where our citizens voted 62 per cent to 38 per cent to Remain, there has been a surprising lack of focused and engaged thinking when it comes to ensuring Scotland gets the best possible deal.
In short, why are Scotland’s politician’s not calling to reverse Brexit or at the very least hammering out a coherent strategy to avoid the costly chaos many believe will prevail?
This is the question posed this week by Dr Kirsty Hughes, Director of the Scottish Centre on European Relations.
In an article entitled Reverse Brexit: Could Scotland Ignite a UK Debate? Ms Hughes, makes the case that rather than become enmeshed in discussions of a “softer” Brexit, our politicians could lead the way in seeking out cross-party agreement on reversing the process.
No one of course is under any illusion as to the challenges establishing such a joint front would pose, given the febrile and tribal political climate that currently exists in Scotland.
But at face value at least, as Ms Hughes makes clear, it ought to be easy enough for the SNP, LibDems and Labour to demand an end to Brexit.
For the Tories it’s an altogether different matter even if Ruth Davidson was once herself of the Remain persuasion. Perhaps with her eyes set on other political prizes, Ms Davidson prefers to speaks of an “open Brexit”.
Should Scotland succeed in creating some kind of cross-party consensus, then it also need to reach out as widely as possible both in terms of physical and political geography. This would include North Ireland, Wales, London as well as pro-EU allies of every party stripe.
This might not be as unrealistic or unsupported as would first appear. That much is clear from the latest calls – revealed in The Herald yesterday – by the CBI for the devolved nations to secure a seat at the table during Brexit negotiations.
Scotland’s Brexit Minister, Michael Russell, has also this week urged the other parties at Holyrood to meet him either bilaterally or multilaterally with the aim of working towards “the least bad Brexit for Scotland”.
With so much at stake next week and beyond, surely the idea of Scotland helping kick-start such a debate is one that should now be taken with the seriousness it deserves and developed into meaningful dialogue.
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