NICOLA Sturgeon has announced the Scottish Government will soon be running public information campaigns to advise the public on what to do in the event of a no-deal Brexit as she condemned the UK Government’s actions in the withdrawal process as “increasingly reckless and negligent”.
Appearing on ITV’s Peston programme later tonight, the First Minister in a pre-recorded interview spoke out following a meeting of the Scottish Government’s Resilience Committee.
Noting how the body was more used to dealing with bad weather or the impact of terrorist attacks, she said: “We’ve been focusing today on how we cope with the implications of no-deal and, frankly, that discussion is deeply depressing and very frustrating because it’s not inevitable and we shouldn’t have to be doing it.
“To be sitting in peacetime in a prosperous country talking about the possibility of food shortages and medicine shortages is frankly incredible,” declared Ms Sturgeon.
She went on: “It’s not inevitable. The Government at UK level should take that prospect off the table, it should rule out no-deal and its failure to do so with every day that passes right now becomes increasingly reckless and negligent.”
But, she explained, such a prospect did put a responsibility on the Scottish Government to increase its planning.
“We stepped up the level of our planning today,” the FM revealed.
“We can’t mitigate all impacts of that, the impacts will be so wide-ranging and so severe that it will not be possible to take away all of that impact but it’s important that within our areas of responsibility we’re doing everything that we possibly can and we’re very focused on exactly that.”
Asked what advice she would be giving to Scottish householders, Ms Sturgeon replied: “The Scottish Government over the next few weeks will run public information campaigns.
“We’ll look to give not just advice to households but we will give advice, we already give advice to businesses and to all sectors of the economy.
“Of course there’s a balance we need to strike. We don’t want to unnecessarily worry and scare people but with every day that passes it’s more important that the implications are understood and that the Scottish Government working with our partners, local government, the business community and others, that we take all possible steps.”
When it was put to her that Theresa May did not have the power to take no-deal off the table and she might have to ask the EU for an extension to the Article 50 process, which they could refuse, the SNP leader replied: “Okay, I accept that point but she should request it and the SNP amendment that will be tabled for tomorrow makes that call on the UK Government to request an extension.
“It is based on what I hear from Europe. It is unlikely that that would be turned down by the European Union; of course, it is more likely to be accepted if that request comes with a clear plan to take a different approach.
“It’s not going to help in the medium to long term if an extension is simply to continue this unseemly argument that the House of Commons is engaged in right now because they can’t agree what they want to do,” she added.
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