Meeting of the Parliament 07 February 2017
No. I have heard enough from Mr Russell.
That is why I hope that all parties who believe in the UK will support the amendment in my name, which urges the Scottish Government to rule out a damaging second independence referendum. We are entering a challenging time—there is no doubt about that. There will be pitfalls to be avoided and opportunities to be seized, but the challenges of leaving the EU are certainly not solved by leaving a much larger, far more important and more closely integrated market—that of the UK.
The next two years must not be about playing games, grandstanding and political posturing. They must be about the hard graft of securing a deal that works for Scotland and the whole UK. Now is the time to work positively and constructively to get that deal, and for members on the SNP benches to break the habit of a lifetime and cut out the politics of grievance and further division.
I move amendment S5M-03858.3, to leave out from “agrees” to end and insert:
“believes that the Scottish Government should respect the result of the UK-wide EU Referendum; recognises the formation of the Joint Ministerial Committee (EU Negotiations) as an effective way of engaging with devolved administrations on implementing Article 50; urges EU countries to give mutual assurances on UK nationals’ right to remain, and calls on the Scottish Government to work with the UK Government to make the most of the opportunities that leaving the EU presents, to stop using the EU Referendum result as a means of creating division, and to rule out a second independence referendum.”
14:48Motions, questions or amendments mentioned by their reference code.
- S5M-03858.3 Article 50 Motion