British Nationalists like to point to a “secret” report for Scottish Government Ministers on Scotland’s Post-Brexit routes to membership of the EU on regaining Independence. In fact the report was published in 2019 and made public in 2023. Advice to government ministers is not routinely made public – this one was as a result of a Freedom of Information request.

The British Nationalists like to share “redacted” extracts that are claimed to come from this report. These claim to “demonstrate how difficult the path would be” to rejoining. Here’s an example:

In fact the report was made available publicly and can be accessed here. These “secret” redacted areas do not in fact exist! Here’s an example from the actual report to compare with the above:

The timescales for gaining Acquis – the pre-requisite for any country to join the EU, can be summarised from this report like this. The numbers refer to the Chapters of the EU Acquis process:

The advice to ministers, as assessed in 2019, suggests up to 4 years will be required to achieve Acquis – but most areas will be complete within 2 years. This short time period can be attributed to two things: many powers already being devolved to the Scottish Government, and all areas remaining aligned or close to Acquis as a result of the UK’s long period in the EU.