IF ever you wanted to understand Scotland’s current predicament, this week at Westminster and at the Scottish Parliament have been instructive. While the UK Parliament couldn’t agree to any deliverable plan (again) on Brexit, we had grown-up politics at Holyrood securing a majority for the Scottish Budget.
While the government benches on the House of Commons were reduced to childish screaming tantrums, in Edinburgh there was sane and sensible agreement on financial plans for the year ahead.
In case you missed the infantile scenes at Westminster, the Speaker had to repeatedly berate Tories for their baying, screaming and chanting at the SNP group leader Ian Blackford when he tried to ask questions of the Prime Minister: “Order. The right honourable gentleman has a right to be heard, the public would expect him to be heard, and he will be heard. Attempts to shout him down are not just rude; they are irresponsible and undemocratic, and they should certainly not have the sanction of anyone who sits on the Treasury bench. Stop it! It is low grade, it is useless and it will not work.”
After such a stern telling off, you might imagine it might stop, but oh no – they just carried on, forcing the Speaker to intervene again: “Order. Stop it. Chanting in the background is utterly irresponsible. Let the right honourable gentleman ask his question and the Prime Minister answer it. That is what the public would expect.”
READ MORE: Revealed: How Scotland's voice in the UK is being silenced by the BBC
What the Tories don’t like to be reminded of is that there are different views in the nations of the (Dis)united Kingdom on Brexit.
As Blackford pointed out: “The Scottish Parliament, the Welsh Assembly and this House of Commons have rejected the Prime Minister’s deal. The UK Government told Scotland in 2014 that being part of the UK meant continued EU membership.
“The UK Government told us that we would be part of a family of equal nations. Prime Minister, Scotland wants to stay in the EU.
“We are scunnered by this Government ignoring Scotland. Does the Prime Minister accept that she promised Scotland everything but delivered nothing?”
Unsurprisingly, the Prime Minister is not very keen to acknowledge that Scotland voted by 62% to remain in the European Union or that the current Scottish Government was elected with a manifesto commitment to hold a referendum on Scottish independence in circumstances like being taken out of the European Union against the wishes of voters in Scotland.
Just as awkward for her were the results of the Brexit votes this week in Westminster.
READ MORE: This is how Scotland's voice was ignored at Westminster
A majority of Scottish MPs voted in favour of an SNP amendment noting “that the House of Commons and Scottish and Welsh parliament had rejected the Prime Minister’s EU Brexit deal; calling for the Government to seek an extension to Article 50; agreeing that a no-deal outcome should be ruled out; recognising that if the UK is an equal partnership of nations, the 62% to remain at the EU referendum on 23 June, 2016, in Scotland should be respected and that the people of Scotland should not be taken out of the EU against their will”.
The majority of Scottish MPs voted for the “Grieve amendment” to allow for debate and opportunity to vote on preferred options.
The majority of Scottish MPs voted for the “Cooper amendment” to extend Article 50 if there is no Brexit deal before a key deadline to avoid a hard Brexit.
The majority of Scottish MPs voted for the “Reeves amendment” which would also have helped avoid a hard Brexit.
All of these four amendments received majority support from Scotland’s MPs. However all four were defeated by MPs from elsewhere in the UK.
Meanwhile the only amendment that was approved by Scottish MPs and the House of Commons as a whole, rejecting a no-deal Brexit, has no legal effect and will be ignored by the UK Government.
In contrast the UK Parliament voted for a unicorn proposal by Graham Brady to replace the Northern Ireland backstop with unspecified arrangements against the majority of Scottish MPs.
It could not be clearer that Westminster is not working.
It does not reflect or respect the majority view of Scotland’s elected parliamentarians. It is not interested in the views of the majority of the Scottish Parliament. It does not care about the 62% of voters in Scotland. It grants no respect to the mandate of the Scottish Government.
In contrast this week, the Scottish Parliament debated and discussed the challenges of the devolved finances in the context of a continuing financial squeeze from Westminster. The parliament passed the budget. We will get what the majority of our parliamentarians approved.
There you have it: Westminster is broken. It does not work for Scotland. In contrast Scotland’s parliament is working and it is making big decisions. The sooner our national parliament can make all the big decisions the better.
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Callum Baird, Editor of The National
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