Ruth Davidson: Boris Johnson must find Brexit compromise to protect millions from economic shock

Ruth Davidson has urged the Prime Minister and the UK government to compromise on a Brexit deal to save millions of people from the "economic shock" of leaving the European Union.
Ruth Davidson has urged Boris Johnson to find a compromise with the EU.Ruth Davidson has urged Boris Johnson to find a compromise with the EU.
Ruth Davidson has urged Boris Johnson to find a compromise with the EU.

The Scottish Conservative leader said that compromise was the only way to get a deal, which she said was the "preferred option" of Boris Johnson, and that it was needed to protect millions of people with no savings, who had seen no wage increases in the last decade, and who lived on their overdrafts.

Ms Davidson spoke of her worries about the impact of a no-deal Brexit during an Edinburgh Fringe event, where she was in conversation with journalist Graham Spiers.

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Pressed on her differences with the new Prime Minister who has been bullish about preparing to leave the EU without a deal, she said she had been "trying to be as constructive as I can" but did not believe those who voted to Leave in 2016 supported a no-deal Brexit.

"My cards have been on the table for a long time and I wanted to Remain, but I think, particularly because of our situation in Scotland, when you lose a referendum you don't get to say let's hold another one the day after and overturn the vote, you have to listen.

"I was part of a number of debates at the time, where if I suggested Brexit meant we wouldn't be part of a free trade agreement I was being shouted down and told it was all Project Fear, so no I don't think people voted for no-deal. I also think that it is better for everyone if there is a deal, it's better for us, it's better for Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland particularly given their situation and for the EU as a whole.

"The stated position of the PM and the government is that their preference is for a deal and I want to support the PM in getting that deal, and we've got a very small window, so finger crossed we can get it over the line."

Alluding to today's headlines which suggested Brussels was also preparing for a no-deal outcome, she added: "The stories today don't help, but there's always a bit of squaring up, a bit of brinkmanship and I hope that is simply a precursor to further talks to get a deal. We are in a situation where politics is becoming coarser, more strident and compromise is seen as a dirty word, but actually compromise is how you get stuff done. And I would encourage everybody to compromise, the PM, the government, and the EU itself."

She admitted that if there was no deal, then that is when she and Mr Johnson "get into choppy water", but added: "His argument is you've got to have everything on the table in order to have a negotiation, I want those negotiations to succeed."

Asked about the potential job losses of Brexit to Scotland, she said that it was difficult to predict the outcome, as "nobody has even left the EU". But she said: "My own view is that, particularly after the 2008 economic crash, there are a lot of people who would really struggle across the UK, even if it was a very mild economic shock, a short term one.

"There are people, millions of people in this country, who have no savings, whose wages haven't kept up with inflation over the last ten years, who live two or three weeks out of very month on their overdraft, and who actually can't afford an economic shock, that's one of the reasons I am urging to get round the table, to get a compromise and a deal that works for everyone."

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Ms Davidson also hit out at the "coarseness" of political debate on social media and said that while being leader for eight years had made her "tougher", she has stop engaging on Twitter.

"It has got worse, though its not confined to Scotland and the UK - you only have to look at the person residing in the White House to see how social media has been used as a weapon as well as a tool. I used to use it as a conversational tool but I no longer do that, I use it to transmit, because everything that comes back is just slurry.

"And it's a shame - I did used to use it. The disheartening thing is when it's so reflexive, there's no thought behind it."

Referring to a piece she wrote which was published yesterday "non- political, about differing experiences of death... a thoughtful piece", she said she "read below the line and it's you fat, lazy Tory liar, and I think really?

"It has got coarser and more crude... he [Trump] says things that are demonstrably untrue, that there is actual factual evidence that what he has said is contrary to - if CNN report that then it's "lying CNN". That kind of element really does coarsen debate and allows people to say things that are untrue."

Ms Davidson said her years as leader was "graft" and "isolating" though could be fun. "The buck stops with you and that's fine and I'll always take responsibility for mistakes I've made, where I sometimes struggle is taking the rap for mistakes or decisions I didn't make. But you wouldn't do it if you didn't love it."

She also said that she and Nicola Sturgeon respected each other. "Our mammy's raised us right so we're very polite to each other. I certainly respect her abilities, I just think she's wrong, and I hope she respects my abilities, though thinks I'm wrong."