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Michael Gove has said he does not mind if his high-profile role in the Brexit campaign costs him his Cabinet career as he admitted that he feels “personal” antipathy towards the European Union.
The Justice Secretary said he considers making the “principled case for Britain leaving the EU” to be more important than remaining in Cabinet and saidhis Euroscepticism was born from his father’s fish business failing.
He said this experience had a “significant” impact on his upbringing in Aberdeen and his attitude towards the European Union, recalling that he could not understand as a teenager how those who had inflicted “suffering” on the industry with the Common Fisheries Policy were not held to account.
Speaking on a visit to Scotland to campaign for Vote Leave, he argued that control over fisheries agriculture and even immigration could be transferred to the Scottish Parliament after a Brexit vote.
He also insisted that the contest in Scotland was “entirely open”, despite opinion polls giving the Remain campaign a commanding lead, andrejected claims by David Cameron and Sir John Major that a Leave vote could prompt a second independence referendum.
His commentsabout immigration prompted a hostile response from Nicola Sturgeon, who said: “Well, there’s fib and a half.” She argued that the UK Government would have to devolve immigration, even if Britain left the EU.
David Cameron is expected to conduct a post-referendum Cabinet reshuffle, assuming he remains in post, with most speculation focusing on what job the pro-Brexit Boris Johnson will get.
Mr Gove said he would not mind being sacked if the UK votes to Remain in the EU against his wishes. He told BBC Radio Scotland: “I don't mind if my Cabinet career is over. I think the most important thing is to make a principled case for Britain leaving the EU."
He said he had been campaigning with his father, Ernest, 79, and fishing leaders in the North East of Scotland, whom he said were united in wanting to Leave thanks to the impact of Common Fisheries Policy catch quotas.
His father’s firm, EE Gove and Sons, employed 20 people to process and smoke fish from the North Sea, including cod and whiting, before it went under in the 1980s.
Speaking later at a press briefing with journalists, he recalled visiting Aberdeen harbour with his father as a boy when there were hundreds of boats operating from the North East but said there were now only around 60 in Peterhead.
Asked if his Euroscepticism was born from that experience and is personal, he said: “It is a personal thing, yes. An experience like that has an impact, makes you think and makes you reflect.
“One of the things I remember when I went to university was that there were people talking about Europe in quite abstract, airy-fairy terms and the reality of Europe for me had been seeing people lose their jobs.
“I don’t think even at the age of 19 I would have known what accountability meant but I certainly in felt that there was something wrong with a situation where people could suffer and the people inflicting that suffering were not held to account.”
Mr Gove said a Leave vote was the only “sure-fire way of allowing the Scottish agriculture minister to take back control of agriculture and fisheries policy”.
He also argued that immigration policy could be transferred to Holyrood and cited the "unfortunate situation" of the Brain family, who are facing deportation to Australia after five years living in Dingwall, in the Highlands.
The family blame the fact that the post-study work visa scheme that brought them to Scotland was retrospectively cancelled by the Home Office.
Mr Gove argued that a Leave vote would allow Britain to change its migration policy, which he said is currently predicated on freedom of movement across the EU but imposing a limit on other nationalities.
The co-convener of the Vote Leave campaign claimed "it would be for Scotland to decide" how many immigrants it admits to the country in the event of Brexit and from where.
Nicola Sturgeon with Gregg and Kathryn Brain and their son LachlanCREDIT:PA
Mr Gove also said the Leave campaign could still triumph north of the Border, arguing that around a third of Scots support Brexit even “without any politicians of note in Scotland” making the case for it up until now. He predicted Scottish support for Leave “will be significantly higher”.
However, he rejected the Prime Minister’s claim that a Leave vote could be triggered by a second independence referendum, noting this had previously been rejected by Ruth Davidson. He also argued that it was “pretty clear” that the SNP does not want a rerun “because they know that they would lose.”
Gordon Brown is expected to play a high-profile role attempting to win over Labour voters during the final days of the campaign, but Mr Gove suggested his intervention would have less impact than it did at the climax of the Scottish independence referendum.
He said: “It’s very, very difficult for any British politician, Scottish or English, to summon up the same degree of passion and enthusiasm for the European Union as Gordon Brown had for the United Kingdom as a whole.”
Ms Sturgeon rejected Mr Salmond’s claim about immigration, tweeting: “Politicians who opposed Indy now pretending that Brexit is a great idea because it will give us powers of Indy probably shouldn’t be trusted!”
Alex Salmond, her predecessor as First Minister, said: “The Lord Chancellor is talking nonsense on ermine-clad stilts - what is standing in the way of Scotland having the immigration powers we need isn’t the EU, it’s the UK government.”
(THE TELEGRAPH)
