Victorian Irish leader Parnell should be the template for SNP at Westminster, says party insider
THE obstructionist tactics of the Irish Nationalists under Charles Stewart Parnell in the 19th century should become the “template” for the SNP in its threat to frustrate UK Government business, party insiders have suggested.
Taking a leaf out of the Irish Parliamentary Party’s book could mean Scottish Nationalist MPS making lengthy speeches, creating innumerable amendments to bills and calling for unnecessary votes in a bid to “gum up” the Westminster system.
In Commons exchanges, SNP MP Stewart Mcdonald invoked the spirit of Mr Parnell, who led the campaign for Irish Home Rule in the 1880s. His bronze bust sits outside party leader Ian Blackford’s Commons office.
Mr Mcdonald told MPS: “Parnell, of course, along with his colleagues at the time, successfully used the standing orders of the House to frustrate Government business – which is an entirely legitimate tactic – to force them to take Irish issues seriously, including in a 45-hour sitting on the 1877 South Africa Bill.
“Given the way that Ireland
has this Government over a barrel at the minute, it might just be that those tactics are of interest to honourable members at the present time.”
In his Herald column today, Kenny Macaskill, the former Scottish Government justice secretary, says that Parnell’s Irish Parliamentary Party should now be the “model” for the SNP at Westminster.
“Under the great Charles Stewart Parnell they flourished in the chamber when it suited them but never forgot that their purpose was to leave it,” he explains, adding: “Hopefully, that will now be the template for the modern SNP.”
Asked about the SNP leadership’s threat to frustrate business in the Commons, Theresa May’s spokesman stressed that UK ministers had sought to “work constructively” with the Scottish Government and the SNP leadership and would continue to do so. He said: “It’s a matter for the SNP what they choose to do in Parliament.”
The row over the EU Withdrawal Bill looks set to be repeated this autumn over the Government’s Trade Bill as the Scottish Government has similar “powergrab” concerns about it.
This means that when Whitehall seeks the consent of MSPS, they will almost certainly refuse to give it.
Mr Blackford claimed the Tory Government had “totally shafted” the people of Scotland over Brexit and repeated his call for Scottish Secretary David Mundell to resign.
But Mr Mundell said the so-called Sewel Convention was not absolute, adding that the UK Government would seek consent from Holyrood unless there were “not normal circumstances applying”. Leaving the EU, he contended, was “not normal circumstances”. Mr Mundell also pointed to interventions by former PM Gordon Brown, who suggested reducing the temporary suspension of devolved powers from seven to five years, and by the ex-civil service mandarin Jim Gallagher, who said Westminster’s control of devolved powers returning from Brussels should be limited to areas concerning Britain’s international obligations.
“We reached out to Michael Russell to see whether he was willing to engage with that process,” he explained. “But the clear message was that the Scottish Government had no scope for compromise.”