Theresa May’s deputy has offered an olive branch to Scottish Unionists fearing her Brexit will carve up the UK.
In a concession that could aggravate Brexiteers, David Lidington promised Britain would stay aligned to European rules followed in Northern Ireland to protect the peace agreement, if a new trade deal is not agreed by the end of the transition period.
Mr Lidington said that pledge is designed to reassure people that the UK Government’s “commitment to the Union is very, very deeply felt”.
Meanwhile, the Scottish Parliament will reject Theresa May’s deal next week after pro-Remain parties agreed on Thursday night to form a united front.
All of Holyrood’s parties bar the Scottish Conservatives said they would support a single motion opposing the EU-UK withdrawal agreement and political declaration.
In an evidence session to MSPs on Thursday, Mrs May’s de facto understudy tried to appease Unionists worried about a border in the Irish Sea created by Northern Ireland staying within the EU’s regulatory regime.
Known as the Irish backstop, it keeps the province tied to European single market and customs rules to ensure there is no hard border on the island after Brexit that could threaten stability.
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It only takes effect in the absence of an EU-UK trade deal at the end of the transition period in 2020, before which all of Britain is effectively still in the single market and customs union.
“The (EU)27 have every incentive to stop the backstop being used,” Mr Lidington told journalists on Thursday night.
“But if it were ever used we are looking at how to give effect to this, but what we would seeking to do to provide reassurance to Unionists in Scotland and Northern Ireland and Wales for that matter, is to say ‘okay while that’s in, Great Britain will not diverge from the (regulatory) regime in Northern Ireland’.”
The vote in Edinburgh next week would reflect the will of the Scottish Parliament, but is not binding on the UK Government.
However, ignoring the decision would fuel claims that the Conservative Government is sideling Scottish interests in Brexit.
The Brexit spokespeople of the SNP, Scottish Labour, Scottish Greens and Scottish Liberal Democrats released a rare joint statement on Thursday promising a single motion “which will reject a nodeal scenario, recommend rejection of the Prime Minister’s negotiated agreement and point the way towards the alternatives that exist”.
Mrs May is trying to convince MPs and voters to support her withdrawal agreement and political declaration on future trade relations, which she secured with the EU last week.
MPs will vote on whether to back her deal on December 11.
Jackson Carlaw, the Scottish Conservatives’ interim leader, said Labour and the Lib Dems are being used by Nicola Sturgeon to advance her independence cause.
He said: “As numerous European leaders have made clear in recent weeks, the alternative to the Prime Minister’s deal is a no-deal scenario.
“It would be devastating for Britain. Yet that is what the SNP, Labour, the LibDems and the Greens are risking by opposing the deal on the table.”
