SCOTTISH MPs’ attempts to keep the country in the EU were flattened yesterday, after Labour and the Tories joined forces to give Theresa May the right to effectively start the UK’s hard Brexit.
Parliament overwhelmingly backed the Government’s European Union (Notification of Withdrawal) Bill, the first stage of the Prime Minister being given the authority to trigger Article 50, and start the formal process of the UK leaving the EU.
It was, the SNP said, a “a day that will go down in infamy”, describing the vote as a “devastating act of sabotage against Scotland’s economy and social fabric”.
The SNP had attempted to stop the Brexit Bill in its tracks but their amendment fell by 336 votes to 100.
There had been two days of debate on the Bill, but the outcome of the vote never seemed in any real doubt.
In the end, MPs voted 498 to 114 to back it. Only the SNP, some Liberal Democrats and about 44 Labour rebels opposed it.
The only Scottish MP to vote for the Brexit Bill was Tory minister David Mundell, above. The 50 SNP MPs who voted, Labour’s Ian Murray, and the Liberal Democrats’ Alistair Carmichael all tried to stop the Government ripping Scotland out of the EU.
Commenting after the vote, the SNP’s Europe spokesman, Stephen Gethins, was furious: “This is a devastating act of sabotage on Scotland’s economy and our very social fabric. Scotland voted overwhelmingly to remain part of the EU and it is easy to see why, given the jobs, investment and industries that rely so heavily on our EU membership.
“More than 98 per cent of Scotland’s MPs opposed triggering Article 50 but once again Scotland’s best interests have been put to one side.”
During the independence campaign, Gethins added, Scots were told voting No was the only way to ensure membership of the EU, but yesterday, despite only Mundell voting for Brexit, Scotland was forcibly removed.
“Make no mistake this is a devas- tating decision for the whole of the UK, everyone who lives here – and a day that will go down in infamy,” Gethins said.
Earlier in the day, Alex Salmond had accused MPs of suffering from mad MP disease, gripped by a form of “collective madness” as they rushed headfirst towards Brexit.
Livingston MP Hannah Bardell, saw her speech go viral, after she parodied the Choose Life monologue from Trainspotting.
“Choose making up numbers from thin air about the NHS and plastering them on the side of buses,” she told MPs. “Choose ignoring the interests of the people of Scotland and my constituents in Livingston, despite the fact that they voted overwhelmingly to remain in the EU.
“Choose leaving the single market, risking 80,000 Scottish jobs within a decade and costing the people of Scotland an average of £2,000 a year in wages. Choose lowering Scotland’s GDP by more than £10 billion and exports by more than £5bn.
“Choose vital EU worker status being under threat, with widespread uncertainty to families, businesses and the economy. Choose risking our international standing in the fields of academic, research and innovation.”
Murray, Labour’s only MP in Scotland, explained why he would be disobeying boss Jeremy Corbyn’s three-line-whip and voting against the Bill, saying: “It’s with a heavy heart that I will vote against triggering Article 50. But I will do so in the knowledge that I can walk down the streets of Edinburgh South and say to my constituents that I’ve done everything I possibly can to protect the future for their families.”
Murray said he will seek to ensure the Bill is amended as part of efforts to hold the Government to account. Corbyn also lost Dawn Butler and Rachael Maskell from his front-bench team as they said they couldn’t vote for Brexit.
Angus Brendan MacNeil, the SNP MP for Na h-Eileanan an Iar, said: “People assume the House of Commons knows what it’s doing. It doesn’t. It’s hoping for the best.
“The UK is after smashing up the Rolls-Royce. The best deal, we have it with Europe. We are heading to a second-hand car dealer to ask him for the best motor he has got because we’ve smashed up our Rolls-Royce.”
A Brexit white paper is due to be published today.
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