EU open to Scotland joining but ‘’very reluctant’ to let UK return, expert says
Kirsty Hughes, former director of Scottish Centre on Europe Relations, has said predicted the EU would have “complete openness” to Scotland joining the bloc if they voted for independence in a legally binding referendum.
“On the Scottish side I think there is complete openness if Scotland was to vote Yes in a constitutionally and legally valid referendum. There is complete openness to welcoming another small, northern European country into the European Union,” she said.
Hughes is less certain there’s a way back for the UK.
“I think the EU would be very reluctant in the near future to welcome a penitent UK back. It would have to be more than penitent, it would have to be one that had clearly worked through all its political, democratic, constitutional problems and come out the other side of that.”
