Tag: Politics of Scotland

The SNP will ask for the power to hold an independence referendum if the UK leaves the EU. The party's Westminster spokesman Ian Blackford MP told BBC's Sunday Politics Scotland the party would put forward an amendment this week asking for the power to hold a second vote. 'Scotland's choice' However, Mr Blackford said that the Scottish Parliament has a mandate to hold an independence referendum and said that Theresa May should respect the sovereignty of the Scottish people. Brexit could be lost if deal rejected, Jeremy Hunt says Brexiteer MPs say delay would be political calamity One more push needed to get deal through, says May Mr Blackford continued: "What we're going to do is put down an amendment asking for the government to recognise that Scotland voted to remain. AdChoices "We're making reference in that to the claim of right and the debate we had in Parliament in July 2018 that Parliament accepted the motion that sovereignty rests with the Scottish people. "We will do what we can to work with other parties to stop Brexit, we have no desire to see Scotland dragged out against its will, but we need to recognise that if that does happen then the people of Scotland have got to determine their own future." Brexit: Does anyone really know what happens next? Mr Blackford said that the SNP would vote to rule out a no-deal Brexit and extend the Article 50 process if the prime minister's vote on Tuesday is defeated. SNP 'excuses' A UK government spokesman said: "Scotland had an independence referendum in 2014 and voted decisively to remain in the UK. That is what people and business in Scotland expect."

See if you can guess which caused the biggest political row: GDP statistics showed economic growth less than half the UK rate, the third consecutive year Scotland has lagged. Labour councillors voted to increase the allocation of Tory seats on Falkirk Council’s executive committee. If you guessed the finer points of Falkirk Council committee composition, you obviously have some experience of this devolution business. The bellwether local authority is run by an SNP minority administration which has nonetheless gobbled up a majority of key posts, something the opposition parties were trying to correct. Yet this low-level dispute has seized the political class. In Scotland, silence reigns.’ ‘Most of “civic Scotland” has shown a resolute lack of interest in being awoken. Organisations which once existed to stand up for Scottish workers and public services now operate as if wholly owned subsidiaries of the Scottish Government, acutely aware – and regularly reminded – of where their funding comes from. Wee Scotland is a satisfactory set-up for the on-message and the mediocre and they don’t take well to its flaws being pointed out. It is why this week brought such dismal news and the governing class obsessed about a bun fight at a bin-collecting body. Scotland is a small country and there’s no shame in that but it is the sheer weeness of the place that holds us back.