Brexit negotiations should be called off so the government can focus on coronavirus, a senior SNP government minister insisted.
Roseanna Cunningham urged Boris Johnson to scrap negotiations ahead of a cross-UK meeting on food and rural affairs.
She said: “This is a truly unprecedented and distressing period for the entire country.
"All available government resource needs to be put towards tackling Covid-19 and mitigating its effects on almost every area of Scottish society.
"In this context, the Scottish Government feels that a Brexit Scotland did not vote for, and does not want, is an unwelcome and unnecessary distraction.”
The Prime Minister has so far refused to ask for an extension with the European Union. Britain technically left at the end of January but a transition period for talks last until the end of the year.
Any request for an extension must be made by July. A trade deal is supposed to be due by November 26.
The UK Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs would only highlight Johnson’s previous response to the issue.
