SCOTTISH Secretary David Mundell has been accused of failing to understand the Brexit process by SNP minister Mike Russell.
Russell, the SNP's Brexit minister, said Mundell has wrongly claimed "work is progressing well", when talking about meetings between the Scottish and UK Governments on the formal process for leaving the EU.
The SNP minister, in a letter to Holyrood's Europe committee, claimed the "UK Government's position on immigration and the customs union remains very unclear".
Russell added: "It appears he (Mundell) has not been properly briefed or does not fully understand the process."
A Scottish Government source added: “David Mundell is guilty of grossly over-claiming on the nature of the discussions which have been had. His aim seems to be to make out that there are wide areas of agreement between us on Brexit – there simply aren’t."
However, a UK Government spokesperson, in response, said: The Secretary of State for Scotland set out the extensive joint work that is taking place between the UK and Scottish governments" in a briefing to MSPs.
The UK Government spokesperson added: "The people of Scotland expect their two governments to work collaboratively and constructively on vital and complex issues as we prepare to leave the EU."
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereLast Updated:
Report this comment Cancel