Chamber
Meeting of the Parliament (Hybrid) 29 June 2022
29 Jun 2022 · S6 · Meeting of the Parliament
Item of business
Northern Ireland Protocol Bill
I will in a second.
That is some trajectory, and serves in my mind only to emphasise the chaos that would ensue were we ever to break up from the United Kingdom. That chaos would only mushroom if Scotland joined the European Union—more so if Scotland dramatically diverged, as is its wish, from UK standards on immigration, business and trade. Pressure on the border would be certain to grow, just like the pressure on the border in the Irish Sea would if the UK diverges from the EU. That throws into sharp focus the fact that the SNP is not ready with a worked-out plan for independence.
The Prime Minister is playing fast and loose with the peace process, international law, our relations with our trading partners and good local democracy in Northern Ireland—there is no doubt about that—but he has done so because he is in an impossible position of his own making. It looks like the SNP is trying to make the same mistake all over again.
16:42In the same item of business
The Deputy Presiding Officer (Liam McArthur)
LD
The next item of business is a debate on motion S6M-05235, in the name of Angus Robertson, on the Northern Ireland Protocol Bill. I invite members who wish t...
The Cabinet Secretary for the Constitution, External Affairs and Culture (Angus Robertson)
SNP
The United Kingdom Government’s Northern Ireland Protocol Bill had its second reading in the House of Commons on Monday. The European Union considers the bil...
The Deputy Presiding Officer
LD
You need to start winding up, cabinet secretary.
Angus Robertson
SNP
I will indeed, Presiding Officer. Just last week, the Resolution Foundation estimated that Northern Ireland will be the least impacted UK region in the long...
Donald Cameron (Highlands and Islands) (Con)
Con
I am genuinely grateful to the Scottish Government for bringing the debate to the chamber. It is an important debate, not least in terms of the integrity of ...
Fiona Hyslop (Linlithgow) (SNP)
SNP
Will the member take an intervention?
Donald Cameron
Con
I will take a very brief intervention. I have got a lot to get through.
Fiona Hyslop
SNP
Bearing it in mind that the EU has addressed and has proposed in joint negotiations the opportunity to do exactly what the member suggests, such as cutting p...
Donald Cameron
Con
As I say, I would ideally like for negotiations to continue. On the subject of regulation, which Fiona Hyslop raised, in March last year a civil servant at S...
Clare Adamson (Motherwell and Wishaw) (SNP)
SNP
Will the member take an intervention?
Donald Cameron
Con
I am very sorry but I simply do not have time. Finally, there are concerns about governance. Unlike other aspects of the EU-UK deal, where disputes can be s...
The Minister for Culture, Europe and International Development and Minister with special responsibility for Refugees from Ukraine (Neil Gray)
SNP
Will the member give way?
Donald Cameron
Con
I am very sorry; I have only two minutes left. Various proposals in the bill will be welcomed in Northern Ireland. Stuart Anderson, head of public affairs a...
The Deputy Presiding Officer
LD
I remind members that if you have made an intervention and you still wish to participate in the debate, you may need to press your button again. 16:32
Sarah Boyack (Lothian) (Lab)
Lab
When I was first sworn into the Parliament, I would never have thought that we would discuss a bill that would actively break international law. The Tories’ ...
Willie Rennie (North East Fife) (LD)
LD
We will support the Government motion and the Labour amendment. The European Union had a largely unrecognised, but central, role in the Northern Ireland pea...
Clare Adamson
SNP
Will the member take an intervention?
Willie Rennie
LD
Not just now. To hitch those ambitions to the wreckage of Brexit was remarkable. Last month, the First Minister warned that the protocol could trigger a t...
Neil Gray
SNP
Will the member give way?
Willie Rennie
LD
I will in a second. That is some trajectory, and serves in my mind only to emphasise the chaos that would ensue were we ever to break up from the United Kin...
Jim Fairlie (Perthshire South and Kinross-shire) (SNP)
SNP
When is an international treaty not an international treaty? Ordinarily, there should be a punchline inserted at this point, but unfortunately the joke is on...
The Deputy Presiding Officer
LD
You must close, Mr Fairlie.
Jim Fairlie
SNP
All that makes me wonder whether Boris Johnson’s volte face is more about his having realised that if the Northern Ireland protocol works in Northern Ireland...
Paul Sweeney (Glasgow) (Lab)
Lab
I support the amendment in the name of my colleague Sarah Boyack and I support the Government motion. The member for Airdrie and Shotts and I are veterans o...
The Deputy Presiding Officer
LD
I call Paul McLennan, to be followed by Clare Adamson. 16:51
Paul McLennan (East Lothian) (SNP)
SNP
I clarify that I was told that I was not speaking today—that the number of members who would speak had been cut. I have a speech and am prepared to make the ...
The Deputy Presiding Officer
LD
You are on my list and you have been called to speak. I would take that as permission, Mr McLennan.
Paul McLennan
SNP
That is fine—I just wanted to clarify that. Thank you, Presiding Officer. It has been a long six years since Scotland voted by the margin of 62 per cent to ...
The Deputy Presiding Officer
LD
Thank you. I call Clare Adamson. 16:55
Clare Adamson (Motherwell and Wishaw) (SNP)
SNP
Thank you very much, Presiding Officer. “O wad some Pow’r the giftie gie us To see oursels as ithers see us!” I have visited Brussels twice recently in as...