Pete Wishart
SNP MP FOR PERTH & PERTHSHIRE NORTH A hurricane, not winds of change
Just wow! Normally if I was writing a column at this point after an election I would be starting off along the lines: “Now the dust has settled…”.
Well the dust certainly hasn’t settled in the wake of the EU referendum. There is still a maelstrom of consequence whirling around and who knows when it will settle down.
Down in Westminster it has not so much been the winds of change we have seen whistling down the corridors of power but a hurricane of resignations and upheaval.
The Prime Minister has gone, the Chancellor went into hiding over the weekend, half the shadow cabinet has resigned – including the only Scottish Labour MP, leaving the Shadow Scottish Secretary post vacant – and the Leader of the Opposition’s jacket is on an increasingly shoogly nail.
Meanwhile, the First Minister addressed the nation on the Friday, the Scottish Cabinet met on the Saturday and work has been put in train to reach out to the European institutions and to reassure folk that the everyday work of government is going on as normal.
While there was plenty of bravado and over the top bluster from Nigel Farage as he claimed to have liberated his beloved country from all sorts of imagined oppressions, it was clear watching Gove and Johnson on the Friday morning following the result that victory hadn’t been in their game plan. They had the faces of men who had lost £100 and found a penny.
The level of unpreparedness among the Brexiters and in Whitehall has been absolutely astonishing.
There has been an utter power vacuum and the only player on the stage showing any sort of leadership at all has been Nicola Sturgeon – and thank goodness for her.
The Tories really do believe that we should just meekly accept the result. Well, I think they will find that Scotland has more self-respect than that.
Scotland voted comprehensively to stay within the European Union. Every single council area in Scotland (including Perth and Kinross – 61% to 39%) voted to stay in the European Union.
I am delighted that the First Minister has made it clear that she is taking active steps to ensure that the wishes of the Scottish people will be respected and upheld.
I am delighted, too, that she has made explicit mention in each of her statements on the matter of citizens from other EU countries living in Scotland and the important part they continue to play within our society.
I want to echo that message very strongly indeed and say to all living in my constituency, you are valued and welcome.
I am appalled at some of the reports I have seen of an increase in racist and xenophobic attacks in various parts of the UK. They are, frankly, a direct consequence of racists feeling vindicated and emboldened by the tenor and tone of much of the Leave campaign and they have absolutely no place here.