Mr. Angus Robertson:

That is kind and I thank the Deputy. I am always delighted to have the input of friends through these processes. Scotland House in Brussels engages with the European institutions across the legislative piece in Brussels. If issues pop up that European institutions are thinking about and there are areas on which we have views, we have permanent dialogue with those institutions and the member states. However, there is no getting away from the fact we are no longer a member state. We are in the same position as EFTA countries that are rule takers and are not part of the process. That horse has bolted. What can we do? What we can do is at the margins.

Nevertheless, in terms of the values and the content and direction of European decision making, we see ourselves very much in the European mainstream and aligned with the decision making which the Irish Government and MEPs are part of the process of shaping. That is another reason we seek to retain alignment. We most certainly do not share the ideological fixation one sees in the Westminster government of wanting to be different and to diverge from anything and everything that is decided by the European Union. I will leave that to Jacob Rees-Mogg and Brexiteer UK ministers.

We are doing our best to have a collegial relationship with European Union member states and institutions. We continue to do so and we are doing everything we can to remain aligned. However, there is no getting round the fact that the best way to be able to influence decision making at a European level is to be in the European Union, have Commissioners and Members of the European Parliament and be part of the Council discussions that shape all of these processes. That is exactly what we intend to do.