May Holding Brexit Talks With Devolved Nations

BBC: The prime minister is to offer the leaders of the three devolved governments a “direct line” to Brexit Secretary David Davis ahead of the UK’s negotiations to leave the EU.

Theresa May is holding talks with the first ministers at Downing Street.

The Scottish and Welsh leaders want the devolved legislatures and Parliament to all have a vote on Mr Davis’s approach.

Mrs May says she is “ready to listen” to their ideas but the final position must work for the whole of the UK.

The issue is being discussed as the joint ministerial council, bringing together the top politicians from England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, meets for the first time since 2014.

BBC assistant political editor Norman Smith said calls for a “flexible” Brexit, allowing different parts of the UK to have their own arrangements, were set to be rebuffed by Mrs May.

It was likely to be quite a fraught meeting, he said, because the devolved leaders were “basically coming to Downing Street with a Brexit wishlist, which Theresa May is going to put the equivalent of a red line through”.

Michael Russell, Scotland’s Brexit minister, said it was “pretty poor” that it had taken four months since June’s referendum for talks to be held.

Scotland had an “importantly distinctive position” that needed to be respected, he said.

“For example, a report yesterday indicated we will be short of 100,000 people to work in our economy unless we have freedom of movement. These are really important issues for Scotland,” Mr Russell told BBC Radio’s Good Morning Scotland.

“We didn’t ask to be in this position. It’s extremely important we say what we think the position is and it’s extremely important that’s listened to.”

The minister said there was a lot of flexibility in how the EU made arrangements with other countries in Europe and said comparable flexibility needed to be shown from the UK government.

It would be “very strange” if special arrangements were made for the financial sector but not for the people in Scotland who backed Remain, he added.

Speaking ahead of her talks with Scottish First Minister Nicola Sturgeon, Welsh counterpart Carwyn Jones and Northern Ireland’s Arlene Foster and Martin McGuinness, Mrs May said: “The great union between us has been the cornerstone of our prosperity in the past – and it is absolutely vital to our success in the future.

“The country is facing a negotiation of tremendous importance and it is imperative that the devolved administrations play their part in making it work.”

Downing Street is proposing that Mr Davis chair a new forum bringing together representatives from the devolved nations before the prime minister triggers Article 50, and formally starts the two-year Brexit process by March next year.

Mrs May said: “The new forum I am offering will be the chance for them all to put forward their proposals on how to seize the opportunities presented by Brexit and deliver the democratic decision expressed by the people of the UK.”

Constitutional crisis warning

Scotland and Northern Ireland voted to remain in the EU in the referendum last June, while Wales, like England, voted to leave.

But Mr Jones and Ms Sturgeon have both called for votes on the Brexit strategy, saying Article 50 should not be triggered until there is an agreed approach.

Ms Sturgeon has also said she wants to be able to call a second referendum on independence if the UK government does not protect Scotland’s links with the EU.

The two leaders have stressed their desire to see continued participation in the EU single market – a situation that could be at risk if the UK pursued a so-called “hard” approach to Brexit.

However, Downing Street says the prime minister is expected to tell the leaders that, contrary to some speculation, no final decisions have been taken on her approach “and that how the UK leaves the EU will not boil down to a binary choice”.

The talks come as a leading think tank warns the UK faces a “full-blown constitutional crisis” unless all nations of the UK agree on “core planks” of the government’s approach to Brexit.

The Institute for Government warned imposing a Brexit settlement on Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland may be legally possible but “if it proves impossible to find consensus… the result may be a serious breakdown in relations between the four governments (and nations) of the UK”.