Alyn Smith warns closer alignment with EU vital amid global instability

The senior SNP MP also explained the areas Scotland must focus on to secure membership.

Alyn Smith stressed the importance of international organisations.

Alyn Smith MP has warned a closer alignment with the European Union is vital amid global instability and the rise of the right.

The SNP Europe & EU Accession Spokesperson in Westminster, he claimed the world was forming into ‘blocs’, and a failure to work together could damage progressive politics internationally.

Speaking to The Scotsman, the Stirling MP also discussed the need for Scotland to have a “clear” idea of its policies in order to one day join the EU.

Discussing the conflicts in Gaza and Ukraine, Mr Smith suggested they had only reinforced his view that working together was crucial.He said: “This is where the EU is always going to be frustrating to somebody, it always either goes too slow or too fast, in a way that the UK is really frustrating to me because it is taking a particular attitude on that stuff and we have no way of making a contrary position.

“The world is forming into blocs before our eyes, and that’s really important. For progressive politics, there is a danger the right are better organised than we are, there is a danger of misinformation, the Trumpian playbook we are seeing in some campaigns.

"We can’t pretend this is nothing to do with us, I think we can effect better change within the room, within the EU than we can otherwise.

"We can be a critical friend from the outside, but I think an independent Scotland and Ireland will be helpful for progressive politics within the UK.

"Solidarity and multilaterialism and working together, the world is pretty bleak right now, and the idea walking away from the EU was a good idea, well? We’ve left ourselves alone”.

A former member of the European Parliament, Mr Smith also discussed the work he did behind the scenes on Scotland’s relationship with Europe. He described the work as “beavering away without much expectation of public recognition”, and explained it was about laying the groundwork for Scotland to join one day.

He said: “Independence in the EU is fundamental to where we are going to get to if we are going to be successful.

"Getting back into the EU, much of that sentiment was submerged during Covid, people weren’t travelling, and were worried about the day to day, quite rightly, but that’s now coming back.

"Through forums like the Parliamentary Assembly, we can keep the channels open, talking about the real nuts and bolts stuff, such as, we need a veterinary agreement to safeguard agricultural standards and checks at the border.

"That’s the sort of stuff that you would think that should be just happening in the background but isn’t and needs a nudge. Maintaining that visibility of the the European issue in Scotland as a live thing that we can do something about, and of Scotland as a live issue that the EU should keep an eye on is really important".

Asked if he was frustrated there was no clear date for rejoining, Mr Smith answered it wasn’t about timelines, but about maintaining relations for when Scotland was able to join.

Referencing his “leave a light on” on his last day as an MEP, he said: “We joke about the leave a light on speech, the reason I was able to make that speech and get a reaction was because everybody sensible in the room had worked with me over a ten year period. They’d worked with me on agricultural negotiations, they’d worked with me on emissions trading scheme negotiations, they’d worked with me on whether the European Parliament should be based in Strasbourg or Brussels, not both.

I wasn’t just some numpty they’d never heard of, you have to invest, you have to earn your spurs, you can’t just turn up and say ‘hello you don’t know me but I’m fabulous’.

"People want Government to be quietly and diligently working on their behalf but as far from their lives as possible.

"An independent Scotland if we’re going to get where we want to be needs to be known quantity in Brussels, and across the nuts and bolts stuff.

“We need to have a clear image of what exactly it is we are bringing to that table, we need to be a known quantity on fisheries policy, agriculture, and the university sector.

“If people don’t know who we are, the discussion will be that much more difficult. Maintaining those links is not going to be on the front page of a newspaper anytime soon, but if you want to know who to call in Brussels on a particular topics, I’ve got their mobile number”.

Despite this, Mr Smith admitted there wasn’t yet huge interest in Scotland joining, explaining Britain as a whole was now deemed less important to the EU.

He said: “The answer is no, there is a keen interest in what is happening, there is an awareness. They’re well briefed on what’s going on.

"The British isles has slipped down the EU’s agenda, that’s the harsh reality of it. The Brits are a third country, even in the meeting we just had yesterday, one of the House of Lords was complaining ‘I feel like we’re being treated a bit like the Philippines, a third country’, and you could see MEPs going, ‘yeah, that’s what you wanted chief, sorry’”.

Mr Smith also hinted his party would support a Labour Government seeking a closer relationship with the EU, rather than bringing it down for not being close enough.

He said: “I think one of our key planks in the Westminster campaign is we will challenge the Labour party to make good on its promises to improve relations with the EU”.