An independent Scotland would need to build a “great wall of Gretna” at the border with England if it was part of the European Union, a Tory immigration Minister has claimed.
Home Office minister Kevin Foster used a visit to Scotland to speak out against independence and demand that the SNP “start being upfront” about what independence would mean in reality.
Speaking to journalists during his visit to Linlithgow, West Lothian, Foster said if an independent Scotland was part of the Schengen scheme, which permits free travel without passport checks between European nations, that would mean passport checks between Scotland and England.
He said: “If they wanted Scotland to join Schengen that does mean a hard border, it means building a great wall of Gretna.”
In a direct challenge to Nicola Sturgeon the Minister said: “It’s always interesting to hear the SNP talking about wanting to rejoin the EU if they achieve their goal of separation, but they are quiet about what that would mean in terms of rejoining the Common Fisheries Policy, potentially joining the euro, what it could mean around Schengen.
“What I am not interested in doing is creating passport control at Berwick. The UK operates as a single market despite the SNP’s thoughts on this.”
In a distinct change of tone from Cabinet Office Minister Michael Gove’s “lovebombing” approach to the Scottish Government Foster said the SNP could be “getting on with the day job” of dealing with coronavirus and the recovery from the pandemic.
He said: “We’re coming out of an extraordinary period of a pandemic, the first to hit the UK of this nature for a century, our minds really should be focused on recovery, getting people back to work, and dealing with the many impacts we know there is going to be of the pandemic."
“That is what we should be doing, getting on with the day job, not sitting round debating the philosophical future.”
He was dismissive of Scottish Government calls for more powers over immigration to be devolved to Holyrood, saying: “We’re very clear that we need to have a migration system that works for the whole of the United Kingdom.”
