CONFERENCE BITES

THE SNP’s Westminster leader effectively ruled out the party backing any Brexit deal obtained by Theresa May.

Ian Blackford said his MPs would oppose any new arrangement that takes the UK out of the single market and customs union.

The pledge raises the prospect of the SNP’s MPs walking through the same division lobbies in the Commons as hardline Brexiteers such as Jacob Rees-Mogg and Boris Johnson. RETIRED nurses are to be brought back to work to help plug a skills gap.

Health Secretary Jeane Freeman, below, said up to 100 “mentors” will be recruited to help new midwives, health visitors, district nurses and practice staff.

She said: “There is real value in using the skills and experience of people in their 60s.” NEARLY 60 per cent of people in Scotland believe Holyrood should decide on whether to hold a referendum on independence, a survey commissioned by the SNP suggests. The Survation poll asked if the Scottish Parliament or the UK Parliament should have the final say on whether a ballot is held. Of those who answered, 59 per cent chose Holyrood, 30 per cent went for Westminster and 11 per cent were undecided.

THE Home Secretary is putting “party political dogma ahead of people’s lives” by refusing to allow a safe injecting room in Glasgow, MP Alison Thewlis has claimed.

Thewlis begged Sajid Javid to visit the city and speak to addicts who could be helped by such a centre.

There is cross-party support for a centre where addicts can use drugs in a supervised environment to be set up in Glasgow.

Thewliss said refusing permission was “despicable”. THE boss of the ScotRail Alliance yesterday claimed customers “don’t care how old their trains are”.

Managing director Alex Hynes was tackled at a conference fringe event about why carriages on new high-speed trains are 40 years old.

He said: “They have been throughly refurbished.

“Customers don’t care how old their trains are. They care if it’s comfortable and reliable.” JOHN Swinney denounced Scottish Labour as Ruth Davidson’s “little red helpers”.

The Deputy First Minister mocked Richard Leonard’s party to laughter at the SNP conference in Glasgow.

He said the Scottish Labour Party were “too busy fighting each other to fight for Scotland, blinded by their hatred of the SNP, in vote after vote they ally with the Tories”.

He added: “Labour have become Ruth Davidson’s little red helpers. Shame. Shame on them all.”