MSPs told 'no winners in Brexit' as MEP says UK has to adapt to third country status

The UK and EU must stick to the terms of the negotiated trade agreement, MSPs have been told, if issues with exports are to be resolved.

David McAllister MEP gave evidence to the Holyrood Europe committee.

German MEP David McAskill, chair of the European Parliament’s UK Coordination Group, told Holyrood’s Europe committee that the problems facing Scottish businesses were due to the consequences of Brexit but that he was confident “flexible and pragmatic solutions” would be found.

He also told MSPs that the European Commission had accepted it made a mistake triggering Article 16, the Northern Ireland protocol of the agreement, which saw the EU unilaterally suspending trade to the province from the Republic of Ireland amid a row over Covid vaccine delivery shortfalls.

Mr McAskill said both the EU and UK were facing an “unprecedented situation” with Brexit. “It’s the first time we have to implement an agreement which will worsen our terms of trade and cooperation, this has never happened before in history of the EU,” he said.

"So we have to accept that the implementation will be at times complex and it will not be frictionless. Brexit has happened but it has not gone and it will keep us busy for the next years and decades, but we have a duty to implement the agreement in good faith and with a constructive spirit.

"The proof of the pudding is in the eating. There are 1300 pages [of the agreement] and if we both stick to what’s been written down, then I am sure solutions will be found on both sides of the Channel.

“I am for flexible and pragmatic solutions at the beginning of this new co-operation phase but we need to be firm on our principles. We cannot get into a permanent waiver mindset. I know there are experts on both sides of the Channel at kicking the can down the road, but now we’re at a different stage and we need to implement what has been negotiated painstakingly over the last few years.

“This agreement is legally binding and I would advise both sides to exactly fulfil the promises that were made and obligations sooner rather than later.”

Mr McAskill also said that businesses on the Continent had been more prepared for Brexit than those in the UK.

“I don’t like lecturing the UK but we’re reading there were so many surprises since 1st January that not everyone was 100 per cent prepared. So we need to find practical solutions but to quote the Prime Minister ‘Brexit means Brexit’.

"We’ve have heard this over and over over again. We didn’t ask for this Brexit and now we’re receiving requests for prolonged grace periods from the side that totally refused to extend the transition period during the negotiations.

We cannot deny the third country status of the UK – which was the voluntary choice of a majority of the House of Commons – but we need to find flexible and pragmatic solutions. I’m confident these issues will be handled.”

Asked about the decision by the European Commission that Scotland could not unilaterally rejoin the Erasmus student exchange scheme, he said the position taken had been “clear” even if “not everyone will share the view in this matter”.

He said it had been raised with him by the Scottish Government’s Belgian office numerous times and added: “Let me commend the excellent work of Scotland House in Brussels. They’re very active and sometimes I’m in so much contact with representatives from your government that I feel I have a new constituency in the European Parliament.”

On the controversial suspension of the Northern Ireland protocol – which was the resolution to the sticky Irish border question and was designed to avoid a return of checkpoints on the island of Ireland – he said

"When this Article 16 happened, Vice President Maroš Šefčovič was immediately summoned to the European Parliament. Ursula von der Leyen has described this as a mistake, she said the Commission shouldn’t even have thought about triggering Article 16. It’s acknowledged that was a mistake.

“We are all in politics... but I think the worse thing is to stick to the mistake, and it was rectified within three and a half hours. Some people were finger pointing at the Commission for days and weeks – some of the same people who had tabled and discussed the UK internal market bill in the Commons which was a clear violation of the withdrawal agreement and endangered the Good Friday agreement for weeks. You don’t have to study maths to see there’s a difference between three and a half hours and a couple of weeks.

"But we have seen how quickly tensions can escalate – we all need to calm the tensions and we need to protect the gains of the peace process and try to find solutions which, as little as possible, will impact the daily lives of communities in Ireland.”

SNP MSP Christine Grahame asked if he could see any benefits to Scotland from Brexit, but Mr McAllister said: “Unfortunately I’m not able to mention any positives about Brexit.

"I’ve been thinking about this for the last few years, but it’s a lose-lose situation There are no winners in that. But it's over and done with. We have to do the best out of this.

"Throughout the whole process of negotiating the withdrawal agreement and the new co-operation agreement it was always the prerogative of the Commission to try and mitigate the consequences for businesses and citizens. We have negotiated so many trade and co-operative agreements, always with the intention to improve relations, and here for the first time we have negotiated something where the level of co-operation will decrease and get worse. This has been very challenging but this is the political decision taken by the UK government and parliament and we have to respect this.”

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