Stop the clock on Brexit
NICOLA Sturgeon last night renewed calls for a second EU referendum, calling for the clock to be stopped on Brexit until a people’s vote is held.
The First Minister said: “We have reached the point now where it would be unconscionable to kick the can any further down the road.
“After two-and-a-half years of Westminster chaos, Scotland must not be ignored any longer. The reality is that a second EU referendum, with the option of remain on the ballot paper, is now the only credible option to avoid untold damage to the economy and the prospects of future generations.”
Sturgeon said it had been “crystal clear for months” that the PM was heading for a crushing defeat but had wasted valuable time in delaying the meaningful vote.
She said: “There is no more time to waste. Firstly, and most urgently, the clock must be stopped on the Article 50 process.
“This is the only way to avoid any possibility of the UK crashing out of the EU on March 29 without a deal.
“Secondly, legislation must be brought forward to put this issue back to the electorate in another referendum. The Government has had more than two-anda-half years to deliver a workable Brexit plan and it has completely failed to do so. The notion that it can do so now in a matter of weeks is farcical.”
She added that a people’s vote was “also the only option, within the UK, that would allow Scotland’s democratic wish to remain in Europe to be respected”.
Scottish Secretary David Mundell, who voted for May’s deal, conceded the result was “very disappointing”.
But he said the Prime Minister had made clear “she will listen to the House and reach out across Parliament to try to find a way forward to deliver an orderly Brexit”.
Scottish Liberal Democrat leader Willie Rennie said, however, that May’s “deal is in tatters”, along with her credibility.
Shadow Scottish secretary Lesley Laird said the defeat “confirms what we already knew – that Theresa May’s deal is bad for Scotland and bad for the UK”.
Scottish Tory MP and Brexiteer Ross Thomson voted against the PM, saying he couldn’t back a deal that “treats Northern Ireland as a foreign country and in my view genuinely risks the integrity of the UK”.
But other Scots Conservatives expressed their disappointment.
David Duguid, who ousted Alex Salmond from the Banff and Buchan seat in 2015, said: “Without this deal, or something like it, I am concerned some members will go against the will of the UK people and attempt to stop Brexit.”