Gordon Brown: Independence calls from SNP are ‘out of touch’

Prime Minister Boris Johnson is expected to fly to Brussels later for Brexit trade talks with European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen. Time is running out to reach a deal before the end of the transition period on December 31. The pair will hold talks over dinner, after negotiations between officials ended once again in a deadlock.

Major disagreements remain on the so-called level playing field, governance of the deal and fishing rights.

Last week, the EU’s chief Brexit negotiator Michel Barnier announced the UK had signalled that it could accept 60 percent of the value of stocks from British seas from January 1, down from the 80 percent London had originally called for.

Despite the major concession, French President Emmanuel Macron insists the UK red line of annual fishing negotiations is completely unacceptable.

As the clock ticks down, in an exclusive interview with Express.co.uk, Alan Winters, director of the Trade Policy Observatory at the University of Sussex, claimed that despite Britain fighting tooth and tail to protect its waters, it could all soon go down the drain if Scotland becomes independent.

Scottish First Minister Nicola Sturgeon is planning to hold a second independence referendum in the early part of the next Scottish parliamentary term, following elections to Holyrood in spring 2021.

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If the Scottish National Party (SNP) wins a majority, senior figures believe it will give them the mandate to demand a referendum, regardless of what Mr Johnson thinks about it.

Should a second referendum happen and Scotland become independent, most of the waters Boris Johnson is trying to protect from the EU, could end up in the hands of Ms Sturgeon.

Scotland has approximately 60 percent of the seas and coastline of Great Britain.

Professor Waters said: “There is a great irony in the Westminster government fighting to defend fishing rights in waters that we are largely going to end up giving back to the Scots when they pursue independence.

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“This is exactly what we have been doing.

“It is very gracious of us to take this fight on, because if we conceded them all and the Scots go independent, that will be their problem.

“It would be tiny Scotland versus Brussels, and not small Britain versus Brussels.”

It is not exactly clear how UK waters will be divided after a second Scottish independence referendum.

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Ahead of the first plebiscite in 2014, Holyrood published a report titled ‘Scotland’s Future and Scottish Fisheries’.

The report reads: “Following a vote for independence, the Scottish Government will enter into negotiations with the rest of the UK and with the EU institutions to fully define our fishing rights and other key issues.

“At present, Scotland’s fishing opportunities are provided for in a concordat among the UK nations, which gives Scotland a share of UK quotas.

“It will be in the interests of both Scotland and the rest of the UK to agree an appropriate and fair set of final allocations so that the normal fishing practices of each nation can continue unaffected.”

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