Nicola Sturgeon urged the European Union to ‘keep the light on’ and said Scotland would be ‘back soon’ as the Brexit transition period came to an end on Thursday.
Membership of the single market and customs union expired at 11pm – four and a half years after the in-out referendum which sought to settle the issue but sparked political turmoil.
The bells of Big Ben were rung as the UK left both the EU’s single market and the customs union.
The chimes of Big Ben rang out at 11pm – midnight on the Continent – marking the UK’s departure from the EU’s single market and customs union.
Scottish first minister Miss Sturgeon, who is strongly opposed to Brexit, wrote on Twitter: ‘Scotland will be back soon, Europe. Keep the light on.’
Her latest hint at her urge to press ahead with making Scotland and independent country came after she savaged Boris Johnson’s Brexit deal on Christmas Day.
Hitting out at the agreement reached on Christmas Eve, Miss Sturgeon said the deal showed it was time for Scotland to ‘chart our own future as an independent, European nation’.
She said Britain’s departure was happening against her will and accused the PM of ‘cultural vandalism’ for ending the Erasmus programme, which allows students to study in Europe.
‘Scotland did not vote for any of this and our position is clearer than ever,’ she said.
‘Scotland now has the right to choose its own future as an independent country and once more regain the benefits of EU membership.
‘It beggars belief that in the midst of a pandemic and economic recession, Scotland has been forced out of the EU single market and customs union with all the damage to jobs that will bring.
‘A deal is better than No Deal. But, just because, at the 11th hour, the UK Government has decided to abandon the idea of a No Deal outcome, it should not distract from the fact that they have chosen a hard Brexit, stripping away so many of the benefits of EU membership.
‘And while we do not yet have full details on the nature of the deal, it appears major promises made by the UK Government on fisheries have been broken and the extent of these broken promises will become apparent to all very soon.’
She said people in Scotland had voted overwhelmingly to remain in the EU, ‘but their views have been ignored’.
The historic post-Brexit deal with the EU on Christmas Eve came four years after 62 percent of Scots backed remain in the 2016 referendum.
Miss Sturgeon added: ‘This is a far harder Brexit than could have been imagined when the EU referendum took place, damaging and disrupting this nation’s economy and society at the worst possible time.
‘We are doing everything we can to mitigate against the consequences of the UK Government’s actions – but we cannot avert every negative outcome.
Source : News Agencies
