I GOT home this weekend for the first time after an exciting but draining two week shift at Westminster which started with the huge People’s Vote rally and ended with the breakdown of last ditch Tory/Labour Brexit talks.
I experienced the highs of twice having my motion selected for indicative votes, the lows of it not doing as well as expected after Labour failed to whip for it, an endless media round and the unpleasant experience of being called a traitor and told to go home by unsavoury elements in the crowd at the Leave rally.
I had a particularly enjoyable day in the constituency on Friday as many constituents stopped me in the street or came to my office and surgery to thank me for our work trying to halt the madness of Brexit.
I have received hundreds of emails and letters not just from constituents but from people across the UK and Europe who have appreciated the voice of sanity provided by SNP parliamentarians.
One correspondent told me “you’ve had a good Brexit” and I think that can be said of the entire party whose reputation has been enhanced across the UK and in continental Europe where people are watching the machinations of the UK Parliament closely. This was particularly apparent in the warm welcome the FM and Ian Blackford received from the crowd when they spoke at the London rally.
However there is much work still to be done despite the fact that MPs and staff at the House of Commons are exhausted with the long hours.
Meantime, back in the constituencies, MPs’ office staff are having to work even harder than usual to keep the constituency offices ticking over whilst MPs are stuck in London for longer periods than normal.
As I write this article I am about to head up north for a family party to celebrate my mum’s 80th birthday but only after first attending SNP NEC where there is important business to be discussed because it now looks very likely that the European Parliament elections will proceed in the UK.
Fortunately the foresight of Chris McEleny and others means that at the start of the year the SNP NEC made contingency plans so the party is fighting fit and candidates should be in place soon.
The elections are likely to happen because the last crazy week in Westminster ended with a beleaguered Theresa May writing to Brussels for another Article 50 extension which she knows she probably won’t get. She wants one only until June 30. However, the reality is that the EU will not give the UK an extension simply because we cannot make our minds up about what to do.
They will only grant an extension for a purpose such as a General Election or a People’s Vote or at the very least a viable plan to get us out the current impasse. Such an extension will have to be a longer one than Theresa May wants and will involve the UK electing MEPs in May.
The UK is at the mercy of the EU who must agree an extension unanimously. It only takes one member state to veto it. Even little Malta could do so and there is nothing the UK could do about it.
This is because, the EU, unlike the UK, is a union of equals and in decisions of this magnitude one country can throw a spanner in the works. What a contrast with the position of Scotland who, is powerless in the UK to stop Brexit despite our majority vote for Remain. This means is that Yvette Cooper’s bill designed to put political pressure on the PM to seek an extension is practically redundant although one would not have thought so on Friday given the fight that some of their undemocratic and unaccountable lordships put up against its passage through the House of Lords.
It should be back in the Commons by Monday evening and due to the constitutional innovations of last week, it could be law by Tuesday.
But the reality is that it is rather a toothless creature compared to the proposals that would have been brought into law had my motion succeeded in the indicative votes last Monday.
This isn’t just sour grapes. Independent commentators such as Kirsty Hughes and Lord David Anderson QC have pointed out that without the revocation backstop of my plans, if the EU refuse an extension, the PM could let the UK crash out without a deal and there is nothing that Parliament could to stop her.
There will only be more indicative votes if the UK Government agree to it because they are back in control of the business of the House. However although support for a People’s Vote is growing it is hard to see any option getting an outright majority.
The current mess stems from the PMs failure to reach out and build consensus in the aftermath of the referendum. She should have done so given the narrow result and the fact that two out of the four constituent parts of the UK and NI voted Remain. It is very late to be having cross-party talks now and it seems May is still not prepared to relax her red lines.
I have always believed that it only with cross party working that Brexit can be stopped and that the SNP must take a lead. That is why I am so proud together with Alyn Smith MEP to have been one of the Scottish Six who, together with Jo Maugham QC, secured the right to unilaterally revoke. It’s a right which, given the current mess, the UK Government may yet be glad to have.
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Callum Baird, Editor of The National
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