Mike Russell embarks on Scots town hall tour to warn of ‘Brexit chaos’

Scotland's Brexit Secretary is to embark on an election tour of town halls around the country to claim that only a vote for the  SNP will avoid the "chaos" of EU departure.

Mike Russell says he wants to "lock the Tories out" of Government amid the prospect of deal between the SNP and Labour which could see an independence referendum granted by a Jeremy Corbyn-led Government if Nationalist MP's agree to prop it up.

Mr Russell's tour begins at the end of the week and comes after outgoing European Council President Donald Tusk warned the UK will become "an outsider, a second-rate player" after Brexit, and told people across the UK not to give up in stopping Brexit.

“With just 24 days to go till the general election only a vote for the SNP is a vote to escape Brexit, lock the Tories out of Downing Street, reject austerity, and put Scotland’s future into Scotland’s hands," Mr Russell said.

Mike Russell is undertake Town Hall tour

"Scotland is a crucial battleground in this election and the battle to stop Brexit, and as Scotland’s party of remain the SNP is the number one challenger in every single Tory seat in Scotland.

“With Boris Johnson now in the pocket of Nigel Farage and Donald Trump it is all the more important that we stop the Tories in their tracks.

“Over the next four weeks I will be holding town hall meetings across the country to take our message to every corner of Scotland."


Scots voted in favour of remaining in the EU in the 2016 referendum, but the weight of votes south of the border swung the outcome in favour of Leave. But there are fears Scotland could be disproportionately hit, with the economy set to be hit by immigration curbs, environmental rights being rolled back and thousands of jobs being lost.


“That is a price that the people of Scotland must not be forced to pay," Mr Russell added.


“Only the SNP offers a real opportunity for Scotland to escape from Brexit once and for all and choose a better future as an independent European country – rather than the bleak and broken Westminster system that has time and time again failed Scotland.”