An SNP minister has said an independent Scotland would not need another referendum to join the European Union. Angus Robertson said membership of the bloc would be an integral part of his party’s case in any vote on independence.
The UK voted to withdraw from the EU in 2016 and this month marks the third anniversary of the country leaving due to a protracted political dispute. However, voters in Scotland overwhelmingly backed Remain and the SNP believes Brexit has increased support for independence.
Senior party figures have consistently backed an independent Scotland joining the EU, without being explicit on the route back in. Robertson, who is Nicola Sturgeon’s Constitution Secretary, effectively merged the independence and EU issues in an interview with Holyrood magazine.
He said: “Scotland, 50 years on from having joined the then European Economic Community, has now endured two years of being outside the European Union, to the disbenefit of our public sector, our private sector, and our relations with our European neighbours and friends.
“I think it makes Scotland’s choice very clear, which is it is either as an independent, sovereign European Union member state with the restoration of all of the rights of citizenship that go with the right to live, work, study, trade, and much else besides, to restore that and to work with our friends elsewhere on these islands as equals, or signing up to a Brexit Britain led by the Tories, or with a now pro-Brexit Labour Party.”
He was also asked whether there would need to be a referendum to rejoin the EU: “No, the referendum case will be for Scottish independence within the European Union as a member state.”
Some SNP members believe EU membership is complicated by the fact a sizable number of 2014 Yes voters backed Brexit two years later. Brexit, while coinciding with a rise in support for independence, has also raised questions for the Yes side, such as on trade and borders.
The Scottish Government has also been quizzed on how long it would take to join the EU.
Scottish Lib Dem leader Alex Cole-Hamilton said: "The SNP are desperate to use the promise of EU membership to hoodwink Remainers. There is no way they can guarantee Scotland would get in the EU because they don't meet many of the criteria for membership.
"The SNP barely lifted a finger to keep the UK in the EU. They spent more money trying to beat the Lib Dems in the Shetland by-election.
"The SNP's plan risks leaving Scotland adrift, outside of both the UK and the EU. That would be terrible for businesses and individuals like."
Pamela Nash, chief executive of Scotland in Union, said: “The SNP’s case for breaking up the UK is fanciful, and so too are its arguments on the EU.
“These remarks by Angus Robertson will convince nobody, and yet again expose an arrogance and delusion at the heart of SNP policy-making.
“The process of attempting to join the EU would be lengthy and expensive, and would have no guarantee of success.
“The benefits of being part of the UK are far more considerable than the EU, and it would not be worth Scotland losing our current union for another, all at huge cost.
"While the nationalists tie themselves in knots over the constitution, the people of Scotland have far more pressing priorities."
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