AN INDEPENDENT Scotland will soon take the seat at the EU vacated by the UK, Ian Blackford has told MPs.

The SNP Westminster leader was speaking during the Commons debate on Boris Johnson’s Brexit trade deal. 

He and his party are set to oppose the agreement hammered out by Brussels and London on Christmas Eve when it's put to a vote this afternoon. 

Blackford said this was because the best deal is the one which currently exists with the UK in the single market and customs union.

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The MP also hit back at Tory and Labour claims that voting against the deal was, in effect, voting for a No-Deal Brexit.

He said: "This is a piece of legislation that is being put forward today. No-Deal is not on the order paper.

"The deal that we currently have, the deal that exists today, where we're in the single market and in the customs union, is the best deal for us.

"And we have argued many times in this House that we should have extended transition - and that offer to extend transition was there from the European Union.

"It is not our choice to accept this shoddy deal."

Opening his speech, Blackford said the message to Scotland's EU citizens is that the country is their home and that they are welcome.

He told MPs: "When this bad Brexit deal was published, one of the very first public images that were released showed the Prime Minister raising his arms aloft in celebration.

"When I saw that image, my thoughts immediately turned to the European nationals who have made their home here, because they're certainly not celebrating.

"During the four years and more of this Brexit mess, the main emotion they have felt is worry - worry about staying here, worrying about their jobs and real worry for their families.

"In Scotland, these citizens are our friends, they are our family, they are our neighbours.

"So before this Tory Government forces through a deal that rips us out of the European Union, the single market and the customs union, let us get this message out to Scotland's EU citizens - Scotland is your home, you are welcome."

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He described the deal as "an act of economic vandalism" and warned of the impact it would have on Scotland’s fishing sector.

"Another Brexit bubble that badly needs bursting is the myth that leaving the EU will somehow make it easier for businesses to trade. This is literally the first trade deal in history that puts up barriers for business instead of removing them."

He added: "This deal means fewer access to fish than under the existing arrangements. Let me say that again, less access to these fish than under the Common Fisheries Policy."

Blackford added: "The Scottish Tories said that tying fishing to a trade deal was a red line that must not be crossed, but yet here we are - it is exactly what has been done.

"Every single Tory promise, every red line has been blown out of the water. Countless broken promises and not even one resignation - although I may say so, yet."

He continued: "Our fishing industry, our Scottish fishing industry, was sold out by the Conservatives in the way into Europe in 1973, and as the United Kingdom leaves, they have been sold out all over again."

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The SNP's Westminster leader said Scotland's course was "now set and it is very different from the decisions being taken in this Westminster Parliament".

He added: "We know that the only way to regain the huge benefits of EU membership is to become an independent state at the heart of Europe once more.

"That is the decision that the Scottish people will make and we begin that journey today.

"There is now an empty seat at the top table in Europe - it won't be empty for long."

Labour leader Keir Starmer said that by voting no, the SNP were hiding "in the knowledge that others will save you from the consequences".

He told the Commons that Labour would vote to implement the treaty to "put in place a floor" from which the UK can build a "strong" future relationship with the EU.

Starmer added: "There's only one choice today, which is to vote for implementing this deal or to vote for no deal.

"Those that vote no, are voting for No Deal.

"This is the nub of it: those voting no today want yes. They want others to save them from their own vote. Voting no, wanting yes, that's the truth of the situation and that's why my party has taken a different path."

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He added: "When the default is No Deal it's not a mark of how pro-European you are to reject implementing this treaty.

"It isn't in the national interest to duck a question or to hide in the knowledge that others will save you from the consequences of your own vote.

"This is a simple vote with a simple choice: do we leave the transition period with the treaty negotiated with the EU or do we leave with No Deal?

"And so Labour will vote to implement this treaty today to avoid no deal and to put in place a floor from which we can build a strong future relationship with the EU."

Opening the debate, Boris Johnson told MPs the deal would "forge a fantastic new relationship with our European neighbours, based on free trade and friendly cooperation".

He said: “We have done this in less than a year, in the teeth of a pandemic, and we have pressed ahead with this task, resisting all calls for delay, precisely because creating certainty about our future provides the best chance of beating Covid and bouncing back even more strongly next year.”