MP explains SNPs’ Brexit walk-out

Argyll and Bute MP Brendan O’Hara claims he walked out of the House of Commons to stand up for his constituents. Mr O’Hara said the walkout occurred following repeated attempts by the Tory government to silence Scotland’s voice on Brexit. Mr O’Hara joined the SNP’s Westminster leader in protest, after the speaker asked him to leave during Prime Minister’s Questions. Ian Blackford MP called for the House of Commons to sit in private, following the Prime Minister’s failure to bring forward emergency legislation on Brexit to ensure the Scottish Parliament’s position is considered as the UK leaves the EU. Mr O’Hara described last week’s events in the Commons as ‘scandalous’ and for his constituents of Argyll and Bute to be ignored on Brexit was ‘a democratic outrage’. Mr O’Hara said: ‘I walked out on the House of Commons because Scotland – and my constituents – have been silenced on Brexit. ‘The UK Government’s Brexit legislation ignores the will of the Scottish Parliament and devolution, as we know it – which the people of Argyll and Bute, indeed, the whole of Scotland, voted overwhelmingly for it. ‘The Prime Minister gave a commitment that she would treat Scotland as part of a union of equals. ‘Yet she pressed ahead with a power-grab in direct opposition to Scotland’s democratically elected parliament. ‘The UK government’s shambolic Brexit is putting jobs and livelihoods at risk – I will always stand up for the people of Argyll and Bute in Parliament.’