The Westminster Parliament returned from its summer recess this week. The hope and indeed the expectation was, that over the summer Theresa May’s government, having recovered from the initial shock of the Brexit vote would have in place some, at least semi-concrete plans for what the UK’s next move would be and what the implications would be for Scotland.

Alas no. And it seems that in July we left a government staring across a table at each other asking “what do we do now?” only to return six weeks later to find the same people in the same place asking themselves the same question.

And of course Mrs. May’s problems were compounded at the G20 summit last week where she went looking for promises of future trade deals, only for the leaders of United States, Japan, China and many EU countries to tell her the dire consequences for the UK economy operating outside the EU.

On a number of occasions this week the SNP group in Westminster pressed both the Prime Minister and her Brexit Minister David Davis for answers on basic questions on what the government's plans are. The answers we received were evasive, lacking in detail and on occasion, even contradictory.

At Prime Minister's Questions, Angus Robertson MP twice asked Theresa May if she wanted the UK to remain within the European Single Market. On both occasions she refused to answer, finally saying that she was not prepared provide "a running commentary" on the Brexit negotiations.

Shortly before that, her Brexit Minister, David Davis when asked by the SNP MP Stephen Gethins if any analysis of the consequences of Brexit on the Scottish economy had been carried out, he replied "not yet".

The UK government's behaviour this week demonstrates clearly that it hasn't a clue how it will take the UK out of the European Union and I fear they will seek to plan and negotiate in secret, far from the scrutiny of Members of Parliament and the leaders of the devolved parliaments. That is unacceptable and cannot be allowed to happen.

The SNP group at Westminster will continue to support Nicola Sturgeon’s demands that in order to protect Scotland’s interests and retain access to the European Single Market, Scotland’s government must have a key and meaningful role in these negotiations. The vast majority of every constituent part of Scotland voted to Remain within the EU and our voice has to be heard and our position respected.