OVER the past few weeks, the opposition parties in Scotland have stepped up their attacks on the SNP and supporters of independence. Their rhetoric is hardening, and their language is growing more personal and confrontational.

We’ve been admonished in speeches, press releases and tweets commanding us to put up and shut up, and told that the will of the Scottish people, who voted to remain in the EU should be overruled by the wishes of voters in England and Wales, and that any plans to protect Scotland’s place in the single market should be immediately shelved. “Get on with the day job”, has become a familiar refrain from Unionists, signifying their increased determination to stifle any attempts by the SNP and others to fight Scotland’s corner at the expense of the Tory Government at Westminster.

So let’s be clear about what the day job is for SNP parliamentarians in Holyrood and Westminster. It’s to stand up for Scotland’s interests at every opportunity. To ensure that we get the best possible deal for our country and all of our communities, today and every day.

What does this mean in practice? It means that we must continue to confront the significant and substantial threats that a hard Brexit presents to our economy, our society and our public services. Not doing so would be an abdication of the responsibilities placed upon us all.

For example, the economic risks of a hard Brexit are abundantly clear. The Fraser of Allander Institute has estimated that in these circumstances the Scottish economy would lose up to 80,000 jobs while wages would fall by £2000 a head per year. Overall, the Scottish economy would decline by five per cent, or by £8 billion within a decade. To suggest that the Scottish Government should abandon the Scottish economy to its fate in these circumstances is just reckless and wrong.

Our day job is also about protecting the best interests of Scotland’s NHS. Without a resolution to bring certainty around EU nationals’ ability to work in Scotland following Brexit, our health service will undoubtedly be confronted by a severe staffing crisis as doctors, nurses and ancillary staff from other parts of Europe are turned away. Rather than using these people and their families as bargaining chips in future Brexit negotiations, we need clarity, not to mention humanity, now from Theresa May’s Government.

Despite Scotland’s best efforts to extend a welcoming hand to those who have chosen to come and work here, the Brexit agenda is working against Scotland’s best interests. We need to address this potential crisis urgently, but still the Scottish Tories seem absolutely determined to brush it under the carpet.

When right-wing Brexiteers talk about reducing “red tape” as an advantage of leaving the EU, we should be immediately concerned about their real intentions.

We only need to look west to Trump’s America, where he’s set to systematically dismantle decades of work to redress climate change in the name of reducing regulations to see what damage such an approach would do to our environment.

We must stand up and be counted in order to protect our planet.

In the same vein, without the protection of the EU, holiday pay, maternity and paternity leave are all under threat from a Tory Government that has already curtailed trade union rights during this Parliament. Protecting our future in the EU goes hand in hand with protecting Scotland’s workers in the months and years to come.

Scotland’s future has been jeopardised by the reckless actions of David Cameron’s government in calling a needless EU referendum, the lies perpetuated by Boris Johnson, Michael Gove and others who spread falsehoods and untruths in place of reasoned political and economic arguments. That has been cemented by the approach of Theresa May’s Government, which is selling Scotland’s interests down the river to placate the rabid hard-right Brexiteers in her Cabinet and on her back benches.

To simply accept Ruth Davidson’s calls for the Scottish Government to roll over and take whatever Westminster offers without a whimper of objection, despite the clearly expressed views of the Scottish people and the Scottish Parliament, would simply be an abdication of political responsibility.

Those who call for the end to a public debate are most often those who know they are losing the argument.

The new Brexit apologists on the Tory benches of the Scottish Parliament are the same ones who told us what a disaster it would be if Scotland was torn from the single market. During that campaign, Ruth Davidson told voters they deserved to know the truth. It now appears that for her and her MSP colleagues the truth hurts.

My day job is standing up for Scotland’s best interests. I won’t be silenced or cowed by Tories who have given up the ghost when it comes to protecting Scotland’s future.