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[...]I remain firmly opposed to Britain leaving the EU, and continue to hope that not just Scotland but the UK as a whole will choose an alternative to this monumental act of social, economic and diplomatic harm.
But if Brexit is to happen, then it must happen in a way that limits the damage as much as possible. The unedifying experience of the past few months – with irrational and unreasonable threats of no deal, insults flying across the Commons chamber and across the Channel, and the utterly despicable attitude and ignorance of the extreme Brexiteers towards Ireland and Northern Ireland – is only adding to the harm being done by the Brexit decision to the UK’s reputation at home and abroad. [...]
This week an independent thinktank highlighted that 134,000 jobs in Scotland depend on our trade with the EU – but those are already under threatbefore Brexit takes place. Businesses are pushing for answers on transition. They need certainty as soon as January to make the right decisions, and the overwhelmingly preferred option is for a steady-state transition – in the single market and customs union. [...]
Last December the Scottish government published what is still the most detailed analysis by a government in the UK of the way forward. It concluded that for the UK and for Scotland, short of EU membership, the best answer to the Brexit problem is to remain in the single market and the customs union.
In the new year we will publish updated analysis – a proper impact study of the options – that sets out the benefits of the single market, not just now but crucially in the years ahead as Europe develops a digital single market and opens up new opportunities in energy and other areas. And crucially, in a way the UK government has so far failed to do, it will set out the impact of choosing not to be in the single market. Labour’s claims of a “jobs-first Brexit” will be shown to be nothing but bluster if it cannot speak up loudly and clearly in favour of the single market.
[...] Scotland did not vote to leave the EU. The decision is one that many in Scotland have not reconciled ourselves to, and cannot. There are many people across the UK who – like me – have been watching events in Westminster in recent months with a mixture of frustration and disbelief. As we head into another year of Brexit talks, it’s time to banish the language that characterises the EU as our enemy, and instead approach the next phase of talks in a spirit of cooperation and solidarity of benefit to us all.
There is one way to make that change of attitude crystal clear. If talks in the next 10 days fail to make sufficient progress to move on to trade negotiations, the EU and the UK should at least confirm that citizens’ rights remain intact across the EU and the UK, and give families some sense of certainty over their futures.