Minister for Parliamentary Business.Dot

Cabinet Secretary for Constitution, Europe and External Affairs Michael Russell MSP 

Ms Joan McAlpine MSP Convener Culture, Tourism, Europe and External Affairs Committee Scottish Parliament Edinburgh EH99 1SP

02 November 2020

Dear Joan

I wrote to you and to the Convener of the Finance and Constitution Committee on Wednesday 28 October to alert your committees to the twenty sixth meeting of the Joint Ministerial Committee on EU Negotiations [JMC (EN)] on 29 October. I am now writing to report on the Scottish Government’s actions at that meeting.

The other Ministers attending were:

 From the UK Government: Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster (Rt Hon Michael Gove MP) – Chair, Secretary of State for Scotland, Rt Hon Alister Jack MP, Secretary of State for Wales, Rt Hon Simon Hart MP, Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, Rt Hon Brandon Lewis MP, Paymaster General, Rt Hon Penny Mordaunt MP, Minister for the Constitution and Devolution, Chloe Smith MP, Deputy Chief Negotiator of Task Force Europe Lindsey Appleby

 From the Welsh Government: The Counsel General and Minister for European Transition, Jeremy Miles MS.

 From the Northern Ireland Executive: First Minister, Rt Hon Arlene Foster MLA, deputy First Minister, Michelle O’Neill MLA, Junior Minister Gordon Lyons MLA and Junior Minister Declan Kearney MLA.

I stressed once again the importance of avoiding a no deal Brexit and ensuring Scottish Government involvement in this intensified period of negotiations. I also reiterated the need for full involvement of the devolved administrations in domestic readiness work, noting particularly the intersection between transition end, COVID and a bad winter period.

Scottish Ministers, special advisers and the Permanent Secretary are covered by the terms of the Lobbying (Scotland) Act 2016. See www.lobbying.scot  The Scottish Parliament, Edinburgh EH99 1SP www.gov.scot 

In relation to the UK Internal Market Bill, I asked the UK Government to clarify if it intended accepting the changes proposed by the House of Lords. I did not get any clear response.

MICHAEL RUSSELL