A different path to Westminster
Blackford will say Tories have no place here
SCOTLAND is on a “different path” to the Westminster Government, the SNP’s leader in the Commons will insist.
Ian Blackford will tell conference that voters have “put their trust in different parties” – noting the Tories are the only party never to have been in power at Holyrood.
Blackford will remind the virtual conference that the SNP and Greens’ co-operation agreement “means that, since devolution, almost every major party has been part of the Scottish Government”.
And he will claim: “It tells you all you need to know that the only party that hasn’t are – the Tories.”
Blackford will argue this shows that “Westminster’s choices are not Scotland’s choices”.
He will add: “All this time, we have been on a different path. The Scottish people have put their trust in different parties, made different political choices and ensured different values are at the heart of Governments in Scotland.
“That’s not a new normal – it is now the calm constant of Scottish politics.” In these circumstances he will say that Scotland is now “faced with a choice of two futures”.
He will tell activists: “Westminster has already chosen its future. A jobs-destroying Brexit, the return of Tory austerity cuts and more attacks on devolution.”
But speaking about Scotland he will insist: “We can’t be forced to accept that future. It is now Scotland’s turn to choose.”
The SNP will “stay true to our word” and give voters in Scotland a choice over their future in a second independence referendum, he will add.
Blackford will cite “a manifesto promise we made to the Scottish people” and also a “democratic promise we will keep”.
But Pamela Nash, chief executive of the pro-union campaign group Scotland in Union, said: “Whatever people think of Brexit, the answer isn’t to walk away from our largest trading partner and scrap the pound. And the answer to austerity isn’t to impose greater austerity by leaving the UK.”
She added: “This SNP conference has demonstrated how out of touch the party is – every speech is dominated by independence, which isn’t a priority for the people of Scotland.”