Theresa May steamrollered Scotland over Brexit – so SNP launches disruption campaign in the Commons

Last Updated: June 13, 2018By

Ian Blackford in Parliament.

There were extraordinary scenes in the House of Commons during Prime Minister’s Questions today (June 13), after the SNP’s Parliamentary leader Ian Blackford called for the House to sit in private – then led a walkout of the entire Parliamentary SNP.

He made his demand – inappropriately – during his second question to Theresa May, in protest at the Conservative government using Brexit to steal powers back from the Scottish Parliament.

Speaking on Sky’s (ironically, appropriately-named) All Out Politics before PMQs, Mr Blackford said the SNP was going to adopt a confrontational approach to the government in the light of the way it has handled the EU withdrawal bill – and it seems he was true to his word.

The SNP objects to Conservative government’s plan to retain control of power repatriated from the EU in some areas so it can impose common UK-wide rules. The SNP wants decisions relating to those rules to be reached by agreement but Mrs May wants London to have the final say in the event of a dispute.

The key amendments relating to the government plans were tabled in the Lords, where the SNP is not represented.

MPs were supposed to debate the amendments yesterday, but because of the way the business was scheduled (by the Conservative government), the debate lasted just 15 minutes and many SNP MPs were not allowed to speak.

I was live-tweeting when Mr Blackford took to his feet during PMQs, so here’s a blow-by-blow account of what happened:

This was a reference to the appropriation of powers from the EU that the SNP says should be devolved to Holyrood.

It’s a good point, isn’t it? Theresa May reneged on a promise to her own MPs, so there is no reason for Mr Blackford to trust her on the repatriation of powers.

Motions that the House sit in private are, on the face of it, simply calls to clear the private gallery and switch off media broadcasting equipment. In practise, they can be used to disrupt procedures because the business of the house would be lost. Such motions are also used to air a grievance, which is what I think Mr Blackford had in mind; he wanted an emergency debate on devolution powers.

But he did insist on a vote on the motion right in the middle of PMQs – which is certainly disruptive of procedures and would have had serious consequences for the business of the day.

Then – drama:

More SNP members had questions tabled but they weren’t heard because those people weren’t present. And that was the end of the drama.

But it isn’t the end of the issue.

Mr Blackford and his Parliamentary party have made their position clear and they have already demonstrated the tactics they plan to use. They will disrupt the business of Parliament until they receive satisfaction.

We all thought that reneging on her offer to the would-be rebel Tory MPs was Theresa May’s biggest mistake yesterday.

In an interview after PMQs, Mr Blackford said the SNP would use every measure at its disposal to confront the government on the matter of devolved powers.

If the SNP makes life as difficult for her as it certainly can, then we were all wrong.


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7 Comments

  1. NMac June 13, 2018 at 12:28 pm - Reply

    Go for it Scotland. It’s high time somebody made life difficult for this nasty bunch of incompetent fraudsters who are in government.

  2. Dave Rowlands June 13, 2018 at 12:49 pm - Reply

    We live in interesting times

  3. Roland Laycock June 13, 2018 at 1:13 pm - Reply

    So Scotland got its nose rubbed in it and the Irish with there border England treat them very poorly to say there supposed to be equals

  4. Barry Davies June 13, 2018 at 3:52 pm - Reply

    May won today and Scotland didn’t need steamrollering they are not as stupid as some people think.

    • Mike Sivier June 13, 2018 at 4:23 pm - Reply

      In what parallel universe did Theresa May win anything?
      Corbyn made her look ridiculous.
      Blackford showed her up as a liar.
      Scotland WAS steamrollered – that’s why he was protesting.

      • Milton Potter June 13, 2018 at 6:56 pm - Reply

        True, Mike. She stripped the Scottish Parliament of power to legislate in certain devolved areas, then acted as if the Scots just had a chip on their shoulder, they have, it’s called the Conservative Party. The Tories haven’t won an election in Scotland in over 60 years and are not very well liked, least of all her, regardless of what the BBC say about her lapdog Ruth Davidson, her best performance electorally was 3% worse than Thatcher’s last.

  5. J Edington June 13, 2018 at 7:27 pm - Reply

    Since farming is one of the powers being held back by Westminster it’s hardly surprising that Scotland doesn’t believe a word about increased powers. Even under EU law we are still waiting for £160m due us for convergence uplift payments from 2013. It was paid to the UK treasury, as the conduit, to balance out the low pay of Scottish hill farmers. Westminster broke EU rules and distributed the amount between all UK farmers at historic proportions. Scotland’s farmers only received £30m of their uplift. Even that was delayed. What chance have they got with no EU rules.

    We voted against fracking but will probably have no power to keep the drillers at bay. The fishing grounds have already been promised to be shared by Europe. The list is endless and, if a TTIP style deal is made with Trump, what chance to keep our NHS un-privatised.

    I am close to weeping.

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