John O'Neill

Nicola Sturgeon says Scotland could stay in the EU and the UK

We are ‘in uncharted territory with, effectively, a blank sheet of paper’ in front of us – and that means ‘there might be’ a way that Scotland could stay in both the UK and the EU after Brexit, Nicola Sturgeon said on the Andrew Marr Show this morning. So England and Wales would get what they want and Scots what they want – except for the two-in-five Scots who voted to Leave. But Ms Sturgeon had no suggestion as to how such a plan might work in practice, because it wouldn’t work in practice. Scotland voted in 2014 to stay in the UK, and the UK voted in June to leave the EU. And EU countries including Spain and France don’t want to give Scotland the choice to stay in.

Ms Sturgeon’s idea is a great one – if you’re a nationalist. You get to break away from London (or Madrid) while pooling risk and resources with the EU rather than your nation state.

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