Scottish Government priorities for UK-EU negotiations: position paper

Next steps

The Scottish Government calls on the UK Government to work with the EU to progress detailed negotiations urgently in priority areas identified in the Common Understanding, including in relation to SPS, ETS, electricity trading, Erasmus+ and youth mobility.

We call on the UK Government to ensure structure and impetus in engagement with the EU that sits outwith those formal post-Summit negotiating tables, and to guarantee meaningful opportunities for devolved government involvement, in light of devolved interests at stake.

And moving forward, we call on the UK Government to use future UK-EU Summits, as well as the formal structures and provisions of the TCA, including the TCA review, to continue to pursue closer cooperation in a wider range of areas – including, for example, to press for more ambitious steps forward on:

• addressing wider barriers to trade in goods and services
• closer cooperation on energy and climate
• deeper cooperation on law enforcement and criminal justice
• UK reassociation to wider EU programmes
• exploring UK participation in EU fora where this could deepen the relationship and deliver on improved regulatory alignment, economic growth, and/or social cohesion – for example, considering UK membership of the European Environment Agency
• improving opportunities for UK citizens to work in EU institutions, and vice versa

Across all of this work, we urge the UK Government:

• to be more ambitious about the scope and the outcomes sought in negotiations – in particular, we call for a step-by-step plan to move beyond unnecessary red lines, towards closer reintegration with the Single Market and Customs Union over time
• to find the right balance in moving from negotiated outcomes to delivering benefits – at a pace that meets the needs of the public and business
• to engage closely and meaningfully with devolved governments – in line with the core principles set out below – and to take a similar transparent and consultative approach to that taken by the EU with its Member States

Principles for devolved government involvement

To ensure the full and proper involvement of the devolved governments in the forthcoming phase of negotiations with the EU, we reiterate the expectations set out by Cabinet Secretary Angus Robertson to UK Minister for the Constitution and EU Relations, Nick Thomas-Symonds in June 2025, i.e.:

• Consultation: devolved governments have the opportunity to formally comment on UK negotiating mandates, before they are agreed by UK Cabinet
• Transparency: the UK Government shares emerging negotiating texts with devolved governments at meaningful points in the negotiating process
• Access: devolved government officials have appropriate ‘live’ access to the talks for relevant subject areas, whether ‘in the room’ or via some kind of ‘room next door’ model, using named policy leads for each area of negotiation

These core principles should underpin the governance of the negotiation process.

It is vital that the UK Government recognise clearly throughout forthcoming negotiations that the Scottish Government has devolved competence in many of the areas of focus – including SPS, ETS, and law enforcement. Additionally, the nature of the UK as a multi-jurisdictional state means the UK Government must consider impacts across the different devolution settlements and legal systems of the UK to ensure any agreement negotiated with the EU is implemented effectively. The UK Government must ensure meaningful engagement with devolved governments not only in areas of devolved competence, but also where reserved policies have significant overlap with devolved responsibilities or a devolved delivery element.

We also underline that implementation of agreements must respect devolved responsibilities of the Scottish Government and Scottish Parliament under the devolution settlement. Legislation to enable the agreements into effect should have appropriate powers for Scottish Ministers in devolved areas, and safeguards for the Scottish Parliament – for example, statutory consent requirements when GB or UK wide action is proposed.

Devolution was substantially weakened by the approach of the previous UK Government to Brexit. In particular, the UK Internal Market Act (IMA) undermined the Scottish Parliament’s ability to use its powers to pursue devolved social and economic objectives in Scotland for the people to which it is accountable.

The policy rational for the IMA offered by this and the previous UK Government is now significantly altered, as dynamic policy alignment with EU law radically reduces the scope for policy divergence which could carry a market impact. Similarly, there are a range of SPS areas covered by Common Frameworks where dynamic EU alignment will radically reduce, if not wholly remove, the scope for substantive policy divergence that would carry a market impact, or engage market access provisions of the IMA.

There will of course continue to be a need for governments to work together to agree UK input into the development of future EU rules in devolved areas. It is important to ensure that relevant policy areas are not subject to overlapping but distinct regulatory regimes, in the form of both the IMA and dynamic EU alignment.