IAN Blackford piled the pressure on an embattled Theresa May at PMQs –using her own words to denounce her handling of Brexit.
Having already referenced former Tory leader John Major's scathing criticism of the “colossal misjudgement” that is Brexit, the SNP’s Westminster leader elected for a more recent quote to hammer home his point.
"People’s jobs will be put at risk [by Brexit]”, he said before clarifying that those were words uttered by May in 2016.
He added: “No Prime Minister should negotiate a deal that threatens jobs. The Prime Minister must accept responsibility, avoid an economic catastrophe.”
Having exposed May’s Brexit flip-flopping, he offered her some negotiating advice too.
📽️ “People’s jobs would be put at risk” – the words of Theresa May in June 2016. The Prime Minster must scrap her Chequers fantasy and work to keep us all in the Single Market and Customs Union. #PMQs pic.twitter.com/uizTZQ5e39
— The SNP (@theSNP) October 17, 2018
The Prime Minister was urged to "go to Brussels and act in the interest of citizens across the UK, negotiate for us to keep us in the single market and customs union. That will command a majority in the House of Commons”.
Eager to ensure that his suggestion had been properly received, he followed-up: “Does the Prime Minister not understand that staying in the single market and the customs union is the only deal that will get through this House?"
May was able to offer only her stock answer on any issue relating to Brexit: “The proposal that we have put forward is one that delivers on the referendum vote but also ensures that we protect jobs and livelihoods across the UK."
She claimed that if Blackford wanted to take into account the interests of people in Scotland, “he should join with us in recognising the importance of leaving the common fishing policy".
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