SNP to use guerrilla tactics to thwart May government
Blackford warns his party will disrupt Westminster business over power grab
THE SNP leadership has signalled it will engage in guerrilla tactics at Westminster to “frustrate” Theresa May’s Government as another constitutional clash between Edinburgh and London looms on the forthcoming Brexit Trade Bill.
After leading a mass walk-out of Nationalist MPS in the Commons, their leader Ian Blackford suggested his party would use a number of “parliamentary devices” to disrupt UK Government business and highlight what the SNP believes is the Conservatives’ “anti-scottish” agenda.
First Minister Nicola Sturgeon suggested that it could no longer be business as usual between Edinburgh and London. Planned meetings between the two governments could now be cancelled.
SNP sources have made it clear that the Scottish Parliament is on another collision course with Whitehall over the forthcoming Brexit Trade Bill.
Like the EU Withdrawal Bill, the UK Government has made clear it will seek MSPS’ consent on the Trade Bill as it involves devolved competencies.
But Stewart Hosie, the SNP’S trade spokesman, said: “Whether it’s a power-grab or a failure to respect the will of the Scottish Parliament, we are dealing with the same issues with the Trade Bill and the same concerns will arise. As things stand, I can’t see how the Scottish Parliament could pass a Legislative Consent Motion to allow the Trade Bill to go forward.”
Mr Blackford clashed with John Bercow, the Commons Speaker, after the UK Government for the first time pressed ahead with its Brexit Bill in the face of opposition from Holyrood. During a rowdy Prime Minister’s Questions, the SNP leader said the Conservative Government had “plunged Scotland into a constitutional crisis” by what he regarded as a breach of constitutional convention – that Holyrood’s approval on devolved matters should be sought and received.
He used a parliamentary device by calling for an immediate vote on turning PMQS into a private session. But the Speaker refused and ordered him to leave the chamber. Amid bitter barracking, Mr Blackford did so, followed by all of his SNP colleagues.
Outside, he said relations between the SNP and the Government had broken down and were in crisis.
He said: “We will be robust in using parliamentary devices to make sure we can hold this Government to account … and frustrate what it is seeking to do.”
The SNP, he said, would use Commons procedures to oppose Government in every conceivable way and have an impact on its business on a “day to day basis”.
“The Westminster Government has shown utter disrespect to the Scottish Parliament and the people of Scotland by wilfully ignoring that the Scottish Parliament has refused to give a consent motion,” he said.
But Scottish Secretary David Mundell said the SNP had “put a stunt over substance”, which underlined how the party had sought to “use Brexit as a cover to change the constitutional settlement to give the Scottish Parliament a veto over Uk-wide responsibilities”.