Oral Answers to Questions

Desmond Swayne Excerpts

Thursday 9th March 2017 Commons Chamber

[Mr Davis]

My right hon. Friend points exactly at the incredible inconsistency at the heart of the Scottish National party: it believes that it is fine to be ruled from Brussels, but not to be ruled from anywhere else.

[Sir Desmond Swayne (New Forest West) (Con)]

Given the huge identity of mutual interests that Scotland shares with the rest of the United Kingdom, will not a good deal for the United Kingdom shower all sorts of benefits that can be devolved on Scotland?

[Mr Davis]

My right hon. Friend highlights an important point: what matters in this negotiation is the outcome, not the mechanism. The Scottish Government have laid a great deal of emphasis on their own preferred policy of separate membership of the single market, but the simple truth is that what we want is a good outcome in terms of access to the single market for everybody in the United Kingdom, and that will achieve exactly the same aim in a different way.