Scottish Government says Brexit draft agreement could cost £1,600 per person as May arrives to sell her deal

Analysis carried out by the Scottish Government was published as Prime Minister Theresa May is set to come north of the border today as she seeks to build support for her Brexit deal ahead of next month’s vote in the Commons.

Mrs May will insist that the deal will protect jobs and provide new opportunities for exporters as she meets factory workers in Glasgow.

The Scottish Government’s findings showed proposal could cost the equivalent of £1,600 for each person in Scotland by 2030, compared to continued EU membership. But it is not even certain that a free trade deal will be agreed, meaning the cost could be higher.

The assessment shows that the deal:

First Minister Nicola Sturgeon said: “The analysis shows why the deal agreed by the Prime Minister is unacceptable to the Scottish Government and damaging to the people of Scotland. No government of Scotland with the interests of this and future generations at heart could possibly accept it.

“This deal will take Scotland out of the EU against our will and remove us from the European Single Market of 500 million people, which is eight times larger than the UK market. It will take us out of the Customs Union and the benefits of EU trade deals with more than 40 countries across the globe. In short, it will make us poorer.

“This deal will damage our NHS and make it harder to attract and retain the social care and health service staff we need. If the backstop is activated – as seems highly likely - it will place Scotland at a serious competitive disadvantage with Northern Ireland. It will mean promises to the Scottish fishing industry being broken.

“Perhaps worst of all, it will take away opportunities from the young people of Scotland and from the generations to come.

“Quite simply this is a bad deal, which the UK Government is seeking to impose on the people of Scotland regardless of the damage it will cause. It will not end uncertainty. It will extend it. We are being asked to accept a blindfold Brexit with all the difficult decisions kicked down the road.

“Notwithstanding the overwhelming vote in Scotland to remain, we have, for two years now, put forward plans to keep the UK as a whole in the Single Market and Customs Union. That is a common-sense compromise that would limit the damage of Brexit and recognise that two of the four UK nations voted to remain.

“We will continue talking with others to seek support for this compromise position. We will also support a second referendum on EU membership, with the option to remain on the ballot paper.”

Reacting to the publication, Scottish Conservative interim leader Jackson Carlaw said the deal had been “backed by businesses in Scotland, delivers an orderly departure from the EU and it provides many of things the SNP demanded - like rights for EU citizens living here and a lengthy transition period.”

Mr Carlaw claimed that Ms Sturgeon is “not interested in a deal” because she thinks opposing it will “help her obsession with a second referendum on independence.

He added: “Tomorrow, Theresa May will be in Scotland to talk about how her plan can help the country come together and move on to a brighter future.

“The contrast between the prime minister and Nicola Sturgeon is stark. Nicola Sturgeon is playing politics with Brexit, Theresa May is getting on with Brexit.”

The UK government said that today the prime minister will tell the people of Scotland: “It is a deal that is good for Scottish employers and which will protect jobs. It includes a new free trade area with no tariffs, fees, quantitative restrictions or rules of origin checks - an unprecedented economic relationship that no other major economy has.

“At the same time, we will be free to strike our own trade deals around the world, providing even greater opportunity to Scottish exporters.

“I welcome the strong support which employers have given to the deal and the certainty which it provides.”

Mrs May will also pledge that the deal “ensures that we will leave EU programmes that do not work in our interests”.

She will add: “So we will be out of the Common Agricultural Policy, which has failed our farmers, and out of the Common Fisheries Policy, which has so tragically failed Scotland’s coastal communities.

“At long last, we will be “an independent coastal state” again - taking back full sovereign control over our waters, and free to decide for ourselves who we allow to fish in our waters.

“I have been robust in defending the interests of Scottish fisherman so far, and I will always be so.”