Spanish prime minister Mariano Rajoy has vowed to oppose any attempts by Scotland to stay in the European Union as the rest of Britain leaves, insisting that Brussels must negotiate only with the UK Government.
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British Prime Minister David Cameron will be excluded from a special meeting of European Union leaders during the second day of a two-day summit in Brussels, as the bitter fallout from the referendum result continues.
Scotland, a nation of five million people, voted to stay in the European Union by 62 to 38 percent in last week’s referendum, putting it at odds with the United Kingdom as a whole, which voted 52 to 48 percent in favour of Brexit.
Sturgeon said she had set up a “standing council” of experts to provide her with advice following the Brexit vote, and would visit Brussels to set out Scotland’s position and interests to representatives of the major groups in the European Parliament and with European Parliament President Martin Schulz.
However, European Council President Donald Tusk will not be meeting her, his spokesman reportedly said.
Scots rejected independence in 2014 but since last Thursday’s Brexit vote, there have been calls for another referendum to give Scotland the option to remain in the EU.
“I have found huge interest here in the referendum result, and a sympathetic response to the position Scotland finds itself in – a position not of our making, and not one we wanted”.
Scotland’s First Minister Nicola Sturgeon told the BBC that her government in Edinburgh would try to block the British people’s vote for Brexit.
But she emphasised that Scotland was examining different options and was in “uncharted territory”.
“This is very much an initial meeting and a series of meetings in Brussels today”.
Meanwhile Spanish prime minister Mariano Rajoy told reporters in Brussels: “If the United Kingdom leaves, so does Scotland”.
Questioned by the SNP’s Westminster leader Angus Robertson about what the British Government is doing to “protect Scotland’s place in Europe”, David Cameron insisted the interests of Scotland and the United Kingdom are one and the same.
“We need to see Nicola Sturgeon at the heart of discussions in London, not on a busman’s tour of European capitals”, said deputy leader Jackson Carlaw.
“Scotland doesn’t have any powers to hold such talks”. From where I sit, it’s the first shot in the second Scottish Referendum.
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Meanwhile, Sturgeon has confirmed that she and her colleagues would begin talking to Brussels officials this week about Scotland remaining in the EU.
