David Mundell in financial services pledge amid hard brexit reports
Scottish Secretary David Mundell has said he is committed to maintaining a successful financial services industry in Scotland amid reports the UK Government is preparing for a hard Brexit outside the single market.
Mr Mundell dismissed reports by Bloomberg that Chancellor Philip Hammond is ready to accept Britain may have to give up membership of the single market to stem European Union (EU) migration as speculation''.
Treasury staff are reportedly drawing up their own blueprint which they hope will allow Britain's financial services firms to retain similar levels of access to Europe, Bloomberg said.
The Scottish Secretary also attacked Alex Salmond's contemptuous'' prediction that a second independence referendum will by held by 2018.
Mr Mundell said the former first minister's rhetoric suggests his successor Nicola Sturgeon is not ''totally committed to a second referendum'' and that Mr Salmond is trying to ''force her hand''.
Ms Sturgeon has pledged to explore all options to keep Scotland in the EU and said a second referendum is highly likely'' but not inevitable.
Mr Mundell addressed journalists, businesspeople and Conservative Party members at a speech in Glasgow organised by the Institute for Public Policy Research (IPPR).
Commenting on the Bloomberg report, Mr Mundell told the Press Association: ''I think we are going to see, inevitably, over the next couple of years a lot of speculation about positions which individual ministers or departments are going to take. Therefore, any such report, even by esteemed organisations like Bloomberg, is just that - it's just speculation. What the government is doing over the next few months is assembling our negotiating position for the Brexit negotiation. The Prime Minister has made it clear that Article 50 will not be triggered until the new year, until that negotiating position has been triggered. We're in the process now of engaging and listening across the UK and across Scotland. We want to make sure that all of Scotland's interests - particularly major interests like financial services obviously - have their issues and concerns addressed as part of a UK negotiating position. We want to make sure that we can sustain a successful Scottish financial services industry.''
Mr Mundell accused Mr Salmond of being ''obsessed with independence'' on any terms and at all costs.
''Since he departed from the Scottish Parliament he has been persistently a thorn in Nicola Sturgeon's side,'' the Scottish Secretary said.
''It is quite clear that his current remarks are an attempt to force her hand. I think he possibly doubts that she is totally committed to a second referendum and he is determined that that referendum takes place, because he believes in independence above all else. I think it is absolutely contemptuous to the people of Scotland to continue to try and force an independence referendum on them when it is so clear that they do not want one.''