SNP's Ian Blackford urges Brexit compromise
Image copyright
Reuters
A compromise on Brexit should be sought to satisfy all parts of the UK, the SNP's leader at Westminster has said.
Ian Blackford spoke to the BBC's Today programme after it was mooted that Holyrood might be required to give its consent on the forthcoming repeal bill.
That has led to speculation that the Edinburgh parliament could disrupt the Brexit process.
Mr Blackford said he did not want to talk about blocking, but rather how "we can actually reach a compromise".
At last year's referendum, voters in Scotland backed the UK remaining in the EU by 62% to 38%.
The MP said the way to proceed was about "mutual respect".
Mr Blackford said Prime Minister Theresa May needed to recognise that there were differences throughout the United Kingdom.
He added: "Let's not talk about blocking, let's talk about how we can actually reach a compromise which can satisfy the interests of all parts of the UK.
"There needs to be a meeting of the joint ministerial committee - the parliament in London, meeting together with the governments in Edinburgh, of Belfast and of Cardiff, and of course I think it is right, and many people have said this, that the Scottish government should have been represented at the talks in Brussels.
"For us, it is about maintaining our ability to trade through the European single market, to have the benefits of the customs union and, as a consequence of that, free movement of people.
"I think what we are trying to be is trying to be reasonable and say look we understand the position that you're in but also let's make sure that respect cuts both ways."
Mrs May, whose government plans were outlined in the Queen's Speech on Wednesday, has said that Scotland would leave the EU along with the rest of the UK. She has also reiterated that leaving the single market would happen.
Secretary of State for Scotland David Mundell has said there would "undoubtedly be more decision-making powers coming to Holyrood, and I look forward to working closely with the Scottish government on this".
Could Holyrood stop the Brexit process?
By Philip Sim, BBC Scotland political repoter
Once again, there is speculation that Holyrood might be able to "block" or "veto" Brexit, via the Great Repeal Bill.
Let's not put too fine a point on this: it's nonsense.
To start with, Westminster could ultimately overrule any legislative consent memorandum. The Supreme Court has been quite clear about that; the Sewell Convention remains a political convention.
But even if a legislative consent memorandum did make it through the system, this still wouldn't represent any kind of "veto".
Holyrood would only be giving or withholding consent for the devolved bits of the repeal bill. If it did withhold that consent, it would not matter one jot to the rest of the UK's movement out of the EU.
The function of the bill is to shift EU laws onto the UK statute book. If Scotland didn't take part in that, it would either be left with holes in its own law, or would be in the slightly weird situation of having EU laws while not actually being in the EU. It would then be down to Holyrood, rather than Westminster, to patch these holes.
There might be political capital at stake in all of this, but legally, there is no route by which Holyrood could actually halt the Brexit process.
The Scottish Parliament's role in the Brexit process was also raised at First Minister's Questions on Thursday.
Nicola Sturgeon reiterated that the Scottish government should have a seat at the negotiating table.
She told the chamber: "I think it would be better if we had two things that this parliament united to demand of the UK government that, first, this parliament would be properly consulted through the formal legislative consent process and, secondly, that this Scottish government, democratically elected, has a seat at the negotiating table so that we can properly defend Scotland's interest.
"So I would challenge all parties across this chamber to get behind us in demanding both of those things."
