Pete Wishart
SNP MP FOR PERTH & PERTHSHIRE NORTH Ending of child refugee scheme really shameful
Trump and Brexit continue to be the two issues that dominate discussions at Westminster and the wider political agenda.
This week, there was a debate in Westminster Hall sparked by two online petitions relating to a potential state visit by President Trump the UK.
One, supporting an official state visit, had the support of 300,000 signatories while the other, opposed to such an event, garnered an astonishing number of signatures in a very short space of time – 1,850,000 in just a few days - underlining the strength and breadth of feeling there is on the matter across the UK.
It is important to be clear that this was about an official state visit, not whether Mr Trump should be allowed to enter the UK at all, and to be aware that such an event is not the normal course of events.
Indeed, only two presidents of the United States have been granted such an honour since 1952 so for Donald Trump to have been invited for such a jamboree so soon into his term of office is actually quite remarkable and entirely unprecedented.
I can only assume that Theresa May feels that in parallel with distancing herself from Europe she has to cosy up as closely as she can to the United States.
Of course there is a close connection between our countries – a special relationship, even – but that does not mean that this President should be feted like a conquering hero.
Some of the statements made by Mr Trump during his campaign, now backed up by a slew of executive orders issued since taking office - particularly the controversial attempted travel ban - have been absolutely appalling and as friends of the USA we must speak up.
You see, when a friend is making a massive mistake, you talk to them about it; maybe, even, in that very American term, stage an intervention. You do not throw them a massive party and let them think that we are happy with the mistakes they are making.
Of course, pointing out the mote in the US’s eye does not mean we should be blind to the beam in our own. The UK government’s decision to end a scheme bringing child refugees to Britain is utterly shameful.
Instead of the 3,000 unaccompanied children who were supposed to be getting given a home in the UK under what is known as the Dubs Amendment, the UK will now apparently only accept 350.
My colleagues and I in the SNP group of MPs are utterly opposed to this decision and our group leader has written to Theresa May on our behalf seeking an urgent meeting about the programme.
There will be a number of opportunities to examine these plans and I will do all I can to get this decision reversed. A group of pupils from Blairgowrie High School raised an amazing £826 at a coffee morning in the Airlie Street Hall in Alyth on Saturday.
The event was organised as part of their fundraising efforts for a trip to Malawi later this year.
Ten pupils from the school are heading off to the African nation for two weeks in June to volunteer at a primary school attended by 600 Malawian children. It is the fifth time that a group of senior pupils from Blairgowrie has worked at the school.
Those behind the coffee morning would like to thank everyone who supported it
The group’s next fundraising event is a bingo tea in Alyth Town Hall on Thursday, March 9, 7- 9pm.