Scotland's Brexit Minister calls for new policy to be drawn up

Scotland's Brexit Minister has called for an urgent meeting of the UK Government and devolved administrations to draw up a new plan for Brexit.

Mike Russell said Theresa May's position after Thursday's General Election was untenable and her policy on leaving the European Union (EU) should be ''scrapped''.

He insisted that the Scottish Government's proposals for remaining in the single market after Brexit remained in play and were a good starting point for fresh discussions this week at the Joint Ministerial Committee on EU Negotiations.

Mr Russell repeated First Minister Nicola Sturgeon's stance that the SNP would reflect on plans for a second independence referendum amid calls for it to be taken off the table after the party lost 21 seats.

But he added that ''to some extent everything is off the table'' until stability was restored and the Brexit situation addressed.

He told the BBC's Sunday Politics Scotland programme: ''It's extremely important that the entire Brexit policy from Theresa May is scrapped and they start again.

I have to say the first part of that is to persuade Theresa May that clinging to Downing Street is not a sensible idea. She has presided over chaos over the last year, the result of this election shows that people don't trust her. I don't think her position is tenable.

It follows then that there needs to be a look at everything again and that includes the Brexit policy.''

Mr Russell said the government believed its Scotland's Place in Europe document, which set out plans to stay in the single market after exiting the EU, was ''still on the table'' despite UK Brexit Secretary David Davis dismissing it as undeliverable in April.

He said ''We do believe it contains some important solutions. You've got to remember it started with the premise that the whole of the UK should stay in the single market and that I'm pleased to see is something that's now back on the agenda.

As a government we intend to continue to promote Scotland's Place in Europe, that document, and if others wish to join us to do so they'd be very welcome.

If the Tories have genuinely in Scotland changed their view on Brexit then I'd be very pleased that that is the case but the forum to take this forward is through the joint ministerial committee.''

Pressed on the issue of a second independence referendum, he added: ''The proposal for a referendum was based on one set of circumstances only in the election which we won in 2016 and that was if Scotland was to be dragged out of Europe against its will that would be the circumstance, that's exactly the circumstance we have found ourselves in.

Now we go forward looking at this and saying what is going to happen with Brexit? So to some extent everything is off the table in the sense that Brexit has to be sorted now and it has to be sorted or start to be sorted this week. So that's the urgent priority.''