MacNeil attacks his own party’s election proposal

Western Isles SNP MP Angus MacNeil yesterday attacked Nicola Sturgeon’s plan for a December 9 general election because it would hand a majority to Boris Johnson.

On BBC’s Good Morning Scotland, Mr MacNeil said SNP support for an early poll was like a “birthday and a Christmas present rolled into one” for the PM.

Ms Sturgeon backed the case for a December 9 election, arguing “doing nothing allows Johnson to get his bad deal through” or could allow the PM to “run down” the clock to the end of January when no deal becomes “a real risk” all over again.

But Mr MacNeil said he was “perplexed” by the proposal and that granting an early election risked handing Boris Johnson a majority, as well as the power to block a Section 30 request to hold a Scottish independence referendum.

Mr MacNeil said: “I’m kind of perplexed as to what it’s about. The SNP has nothing to fear in an election at the moment and wouldn’t have anything to fear in six months’ time in Scotland, but the thing we’ve got to fear is we have Boris Johnson in place for five years with a big majority.

“The other thing is, we haven’t sorted out our Section 30. We haven’t sorted out what we’re doing for a referendum. We don’t know if we’re going to have that.”

Asked about the failure to include a Section 30 request as a condition to hold an early election, Mr MacNeil said: “It seems to me like a birthday present and a Christmas present rolled into one.”

“I’m kind of perplexed as to what it’s about”

Western Isles SNP MP Angus MacNeil said Johnson would be handed a majority