AND WE’D DO IT ALL AGAIN
SNP voted against Labour which led to 18 years of misery under Thatcher..
Nat MP Sheppard in Commons claim
A SENIOR SNP MP has been slated for saying Nationalists would vote again to usher in 18 years of Thatcherism.
The admission from Tommy Sheppard came when he was challenged by Scottish Labour MP Ian Murray during a Commons debate on strengthening the Union.
As Sheppard gave a potted history of Scottish politics, Murray asked him to get to the point where 11 SNP MPs voted with the Tories in 1979 to bring to bring down the Labour government.
The general election that followed ushered in 18 years of Tory rule.
Sheppard replied that the SNP were right to bring down the Labour government because they had not gone ahead with a Scottish Assembly despite the referendum in favour in 1979.
Sheppard said: “Given the administration were on their last legs, the SNP MPs decided to withhold confidence from them. In retrospect, I’d have done exactly the same thing.”
Scottish Labour MPs lined up to blast Sheppard.
Shadow Secretary of State Lesley Laird said: “To suggest that Thatcherism was a price worth paying to inflict a defeat on the Labour Party removes all pretence that the SNP are a party of the centre left.
Danielle Rowley, MP for Midlothian, said: “Voting with the Tories in 1979 was a shameful act then and the idea they continue to defend the indefensible is quite disgraceful.”