The man who wrote article 50 thinks it's "balls" independent Scotland won't be in the EU

If you thought Brexit was confusing enough, it just got worse.

With the backing of the Scottish Parliament, Scotland’s first minister Nicola Sturgeon has formally asked for powers to hold a second referendum on Scottish independence, amid concerns the Brexit deal won’t reflect Scotland’s interests.

Sturgeon wants to hold the referendum within the next two years, which is the timeline for Brexit negotiations following the triggering of Article 50 earlier this week.

But there is growing concern that, if Scotland came out of the UK after Brexit, it wouldn’t be able to reapply for EU membership.

Spanish MEP Esteban Gonzalez Pons said an independent Scotland would have to "join the queue after Montenegro, Serbia, Bosnia Herzegovina, Turkey".

But Lord Kerr, author of Article 50 and British ambassador to the EU 1990s, said arguments that an independent Scotland would be blocked in this way are “balls”.

In fact, BuzzFeed reports that he said Scotland’s entry would be a “very fast” negotiation – partly because it already has the EU’s legislation required to join.

Kerr said:

The sort of rubbish people talk about – back of the queue, behind the Turks – that’s all balls because there is no queue.

He explained that Scotland will need to leave the EU with the UK, then go independent. Then, once they’ve been recognised as independent they can reapply for entry.

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