THE Tory government is all about respect.
Respect the result of the Brexit referendum? Yes.
Respect the integrity of the Union? Absolutely.
Respect the will of the Scottish Parliament? Not so fast… Scottish Secretary Alister Jack was probed on the latter issue after the Prime Minister said the Scottish Parliament would have “no role” in approving the Withdrawal Agreement Bill (WAB) – even though the Bill itself says that it will legislate in 17 devolved areas.
Ministers in Edinburgh have urged MSPs to withhold consent.
But Boris Johnson insisted that the Scottish Parliament has “no role” in approving the WAB.
Scottish politicians pointed out that ignoring Holyrood would contradict the Sewel Convention and Better Together promises of a “Union of equals”.
READ MORE: Boris Johnson will ignore Scottish Parliament on Brexit Bill vote
Fear not, however. It turns out the Scottish Parliament has not been ignored at all, according to Jack.
In an interview with BBC Scotland, he insisted: “Well Holyrood wasn’t ignored … Holyrood has been asked [for consent]. If they decide not to give consent, that’s something we understand and respect because their position is that they don’t support Brexit.”
So far so good.
He added: “But it doesn’t mean that we stop going forward and getting [sic] a deal with the EU because European law and British law says that Article 50 has been triggered.”
To recap: the Tory government absolutely respects the Scottish Parliament, just not sufficiently to even acknowledge it withholding consent on legislation which could see the Scottish people dragged out of the EU against their will.
We’ll just leave this here … Ignore: refuse to take notice of or acknowledge; disregard intentionally.
“Holyrood wasn’t ignored”
— Glenn Campbell (@GlennBBC) October 24, 2019
Scottish secretary, Alister Jack, says UK will “understand and respect” MSPs if they withhold consent for #Brexit legislation
But he makes clear that will not stop UK signing off departure deal with the EU pic.twitter.com/rf4ukncwSX
The Scottish Secretary continued with a sentence we’re sure made sense in his head: “And Article 50 currently legal position leads the UK leaving the EU.”
He added: “We would like the UK to leave the EU with a deal and the only way for us to do that is for people to vote for this deal.”
If that line sounds familiar it may be because Theresa May parroted the same one for months. The fact that it is being repeated in relation to a different deal somewhat undermines the assertion that this is the ONLY way to avoid No Deal.
The interview represented yet another shameless intervention from a Tory minister.
For politicians so concerned with respect, there seems to be a distinct lack of it reserved for themselves.
Why are you making commenting on The National only available to subscribers?
We know there are thousands of National readers who want to debate, argue and go back and forth in the comments section of our stories. We’ve got the most informed readers in Scotland, asking each other the big questions about the future of our country.
Unfortunately, though, these important debates are being spoiled by a vocal minority of trolls who aren’t really interested in the issues, try to derail the conversations, register under fake names, and post vile abuse.
So that’s why we’ve decided to make the ability to comment only available to our paying subscribers. That way, all the trolls who post abuse on our website will have to pay if they want to join the debate – and risk a permanent ban from the account that they subscribe with.
The conversation will go back to what it should be about – people who care passionately about the issues, but disagree constructively on what we should do about them. Let’s get that debate started!
Callum Baird, Editor of The National
Comments: Our rules
We want our comments to be a lively and valuable part of our community - a place where readers can debate and engage with the most important local issues. The ability to comment on our stories is a privilege, not a right, however, and that privilege may be withdrawn if it is abused or misused.
Please report any comments that break our rules.
Read the rules hereLast Updated:
Report this comment Cancel