IT'S TIME: FOR SCOTLAND TO TAKE A FRESH LOOK AT MANAGING ITS OWN AFFAIRS

Scotland's First Minister, Nicola Sturgeon is expected to launch a fresh bid to ensure her country becomes a fully fledged independent EU state.

The First Minister hit out at the Hard Brexit agreement reached on Thursday, saying it showed now was the time for Scotland to 'chart its own future as an independent, European nation'.

Reacting to the news that a hard Brexit deal had been agreed, she reiterated that it was happening against the country's will and said the UK government had broken promises to Scotland's fishing communities, leaving many of the industry's workers red faced after they had bought into the Tories' election pitches about them being a priority. 

News that Scotland's fishermen will now not get full access to its own waters, will come as a bitter blow. Instead the country's fishing fleets will only be permitted to land a moderately increased quota in around 6 years time, provided whatever flavour of UK government haven't also bartered that away come then.

Nicola Sturgeon was cast as a bogey figure to Scotland's fishermen, but she has always insisted that the industry is worth more to any future Scottish Government than it ever will be to the UK government, who continue to barter it away for deals in other areas.

Ms Sturgeon accused the Prime Minister of 'cultural vandalism' for pulling the UK out of the Erasmus programme, which had allowed Scottish students to study right across European continent.

'Scotland did not vote for any of this and our position is clearer than ever,' she said. 

'We now have the right to choose our 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, the country has been forced out of the EU single market and customs union with all the damage that is bringing.

'Obviously any deal is better than No Deal. But, just because, at the last possible minute, the UK Government backed away from a No Deal outcome, after having its bluff called by Brussels, should not distract from the fact that they have chosen a Hard Brexit, stripping away all the previously held 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'. This stands in stark contrast with how the people of Northern Ireland have been treated. It seems that the threat of  possible return to violence in the province has been enough to see the UK tread ever so carefully there.

This, of course, coupled with a promise to ignore calls for a democratic vote on how Scotland means to be governed going forward, is some message to send out. 'It's as if they've learnt absolutely nothing from history.'

The historic post-Brexit deal with the EU on Christmas Eve came four years after 62 per cent of Scotland's voters backed the EU in the 2016 referendum.

Ms 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, our energy is regularly used looking for ways to mitigate their policies – but we can't avert every negative outcome.' 

In a series of tweets, the First Minister said that 'no deal would ever make up for what has been taken away from us' before adding that it was time for Scotland to become an independent, 'European' nation. She also branded news that Johnson is to end the UK's participation in the Erasmus student exchange programme as 'cultural vandalism'

'We know that businesses are already struggling under the burden of the pandemic, and are now faced with the need to prepare for a Hard Brexit in little more than a week's time.

'We will do all we can to help them and are issuing updated information and advice and urge those most affected, including businesses, to prepare.' 

Writing online about the Erasmus programme, Ms Sturgeon said: 'There will be lots of focus, rightly, on the economic costs of Brexit.

'But ending UK participation in Erasmus, an initiative that has expanded opportunities and horizons for so many young people, is cultural vandalism by the UK Government.'

Ms Sturgeon's party, the SNP, has said it will go into next year's parliamentary elections seeking a fresh mandate for a new independence vote. 

She is a staunch opponent of Brexit and has previously made it clear that if Scotland votes for independence in the next referendum she will try and take the country back into the EU.

But there remain unanswered questions around the SNP's existing policy of retaining the pound and how that would play out in an EU context. 

Membership would also mean renegotiating major policy areas such as fisheries and potential trade barriers with what will be left of the UK. 

Although with Scotland an independent UK state, still part of the 1603 Union of Crowns after it leaves the 1707 Union of Parliaments, and a newly recognised EU state, it's expected that an agreement similar to the one between Northern Ireland in the UK and the Republic of Ireland in the EU, would likely transpire, with the precedent having now been set. 

At a press conference, the PM hailed his 'jumbo, oven ready, Canada-style' trade agreement that will see the UK separating itself from the EU when the transition period ends on January 1

It remains to be seen if the Brexit deal will increase support for independence among Scotland's citizens.

Analyst Professor Sir John Curtice, of Strathclyde University, said that it depended on whether Brexit dissatisfaction was already 'baked in' to polling numbers.

'It depends what happens over the next few months and whether the change becomes a friction that grates, for example, if Dover is still bunged up, people's post-Covid [pandemic] flights are cancelled and they get enormous mobile phone bills,' he said. 

So far, Westminster has been unwilling to give ground on the issue of independence with ministers suggesting that the result of the referendum in 2014, when 55 per cent voted to remain, had settled the matter 'for a generation'. 

However, the UK's own legislature relating to the Good Friday Agreement in Northern Ireland, recognises any 7 year period as the globally accepted length of a generational gap. Seven years will have lapsed from the last independence referendum come this September [2021].

However, Ms Sturgeon has said she will delay campaigning for an independence vote until the country successfully tackles the coronavirus pandemic.

Ms Sturgeon is a staunch opponent of Brexit had previously made clear that if Scotland were to vote for independence in any future referendum she would try to take the country back into the EU

And a number of opinion polls in recent months have shown a clear and sustained lead for removing Westminster's influence from the country, boosted by what some have seen as Ms Sturgeon's strong handling of the Covid-19 crisis and opposition to Brexit.  

Last week, Mr Johnson stoked tensions with Holyrood by saying his Christmas gift to Scotland was the 'hundreds of thousands of tonnes of fish' it would become the 'proud possessor of' in the New Year because of Brexit. 

Not unknown for putting too fine a point on things, he said that Britain becoming an independent state would mean Scotland has more fish than 'it can possibly consume for a very, very long time to come'. 

However, it started to become clear after the deal was announced yesterday that the UK is reclaiming just a quarter of the EU's fishing quota, and even that won't be phased in for another 6 years.

Downing Street insisted this would mean the UK could be catching two thirds of fish in our waters by the year 2026, provided the can isn't kicked further down the road by this or any other UK government before then.   

Mr Johnson said after that that there will be 'no limits' beyond 'conservation'. 

Scottish Conservative leader Douglas Ross was on point with the party message yesterday when he gushed that Mr Johnson's deal 'delivers for Scotland and the whole UK'. 

He added that it would allow the country to 'move on from past divisions' and 'focus instead on the coronavirus recovery.' Although quite how Mr Ross managed to use a watered down fishing contract as the antidote for all 'past divisions' is unknown.

Allied with Ms Sturgeon's scepticism, Scottish business leaders were also cautious about what Johnson's deal means.  

Andrew McRae, Scotland policy chairman for the Federation of Small Businesses, said the news that the UK government have backed away at the eleventh hour from a No Deal outcome 'sounds like good news for the business community. 

'But until we understand the detail of the deal, it is difficult to forecast the overall impact on smaller firms north of the Border.

'The end of the transition period will still result in a major change in trading conditions for many firms. 

'Given that Scotland's smaller firms have faced down an oppressive year, the UK Government really need to start helping smaller operators with depleted case reserves adapt.

'That's why we need to see a transition voucher scheme, as well as additional publicly funded support, rolled out as soon as possible.'