There is no reason why Scotland should not keep free movement of EU citizens even if the rest of the UK puts new immigration controls in place after leaving the bloc, the Scottish government is due to say.

Ahead of the launch of a Scottish government paper setting out its approach to Brexit, the MP Stephen Gethins, the SNP’s Europe spokesman, told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme on Tuesday: “We want to remain in the single market, something similar to what Norway does and allow us to trade freely with our partners.

“Freedom of movement is good for the economy, EU nationals contribute so much to our universities, businesses and our society. It also benefits the millions of UK nationals living and working in Europe.”

Scotland’s first minister, Nicola Sturgeon, will launch the paper, titled Scotland’s Place in Europe, on Tuesday morning. She will propose that Scotland should remain in the single market even if the rest of the UK leaves, which she says would require a “substantial transfer of new powers to Holyrood”.



Without those changes, Sturgeon will say, a second independence referendum is highly likely.

Gethins pointed out that UK ministers including the Brexit secretary, David Davis, had already suggested free movement could be maintained between the UK and Ireland. “If Ireland can maintain freedom of movement and the common travel area … there’s no reason why Scotland can’t do exactly the same thing,” he told the BBC.

“If Ireland can have a common travel area and the Westminster government doesn’t think that will imperil [the economy], why is Scotland different?”

Downing Street has said it would seriously consider the proposals, in contrast to previous comments by the chancellor, Philip Hammond, who appeared to rule out any special deal on trade or immigration during a visit to Edinburgh earlier this month.

Charles Grant, a member of the Scottish government’s advisory standing council on Europe and director of the Centre for European Reform, told the FT that a special deal for Scotland would be “extremely difficult” and had little support from the UK government.



“It would be legally possible for Scotland to have control over immigration that would allow freedom of movement, but politically Mrs May would be highly unlikely to go for it,” he said.

Speaking before the launch of the paper, Sturgeon said: “Being part of the European single market is vital for Scotland’s future economic wellbeing. And losing our place in the single market would be potentially devastating to our long-term prosperity, to jobs, investment and people’s livelihoods.

“It would end our current status as part of the world’s biggest free trade area, a market around eight times bigger than the UK’s alone, and would have a profound and long-lasting impact on our national economic standing and our standards of living.”

The first minister will say the Scottish economy is expected to take a hit of about £11bn per year by 2030 and cite independent forecasts of about 80,000 job losses and a cut in average earnings of about £2,000 per person.

“It is not just the loss of existing jobs and investment that would be at stake. In addition, there is the prospect of lost investment and employment – money and jobs which our place in the single market would ensure but which would otherwise never materialise,” Sturgeon will say.

“That is why the paper we publish today is centred on retaining our place in the single market – and why it is so important Scotland avoids the hard Brexit threatened by the rightwing Brexiteers in the Tory party.

“Our proposals deserve full and proper consideration, as the prime minister has already pledged, and I look forward to discussing them in the weeks ahead.”