Nicola Sturgeon's Brexit plan is flawed

There is a smart, hi-tech media room in the Scottish government building which overlooks Holyrood – but it has been all but abandoned since Nicola Sturgeon took over. That’s because Scotland’s First Minister prefers Bute House, her official residence in Charlotte Square, for announcements that have a chance of attracting a decent TV audience. She knows the Georgian grandeur makes her look authoritative – even presidential – and there she was again this morning when she unveiled her plans for a separate Scottish Brexit deal. It was no surprise that she was flanked – yet again – by just the Scottish saltire and the European flag. The Union flag was nowhere to be seen. It makes her look powerful, commanding and very un-British. Just the sort of gesture politics that Sturgeon does so well. The First Minister earned justifiable plaudits on the day after the Brexit vote in June when she emerged into the camera flashes at Bute House to announce that Scottish independence was back on the table again.