Meeting of the Parliament 29 January 2020
When I saw the wording of the motion and realised that we would have not just one but two speeches on independence this week, I wondered whether the debate was for me or for the different factions of the SNP, so that they could sort out whether they would move for a referendum now, next year or ever, what the timing and the framework would be, and whether it would be a wildcat referendum. However, I like to engage in such debates, if only to put the SNP right on important constitutional issues.
I am intrigued by the fact that the Brexiteer Alex Neil is using Brexit as a justification for having not just another independence referendum, but a wildcat referendum. Although that idea is backed by Mhairi Black, Joanna Cherry and a few others, Kenny MacAskill thinks that we should not have another independence referendum at the moment and that the Government should focus on the day job. It is probably the first time ever that I have agreed with Kenny MacAskill. His expressing that view has even led some people to say that we should bring him back, but I am not sure that that would be met with wild appreciation.
Mike Russell thinks that it is racist to heckle Ian Blackford in Westminster while believing that he can heckle Willie Rennie in this chamber.
Of course, it is important to mark this moment, but this is a sad week for pro-Europeans such as me. We are leaving the European Union. We fought hard every step of the way, not just when it was politically convenient to do so. We spent more in the European election than we did in the Shetland by-election—who would have thought that? It was important to stand up for what we believe, and we did so in that campaign. This is a sad week for pro-Europeans.
We should learn the lessons of Brexit, and not repeat them with independence. We have had years of division over Brexit and over independence before that. People are sick of it and fed up with it. They want to move on to the big challenges that the country faces.
Let us look back at the division that we faced all those years ago, in 2014. Friends, families, neighbours and businesspeople were all divided over independence, and those divisions were repeated on Brexit. We should consider all the investment that was held back for all those years during the independence and Brexit debates. We should not repeat those mistakes all over again. Let us learn the lessons of Brexit. Let us consider the problems that the debate about the Irish border has caused in the affected communities.
In the United Kingdom, people north and south of the border have deep-rooted relationships that have lasted for 300 years. We have seen the turmoil that comes with breaking up a 45-year-old partnership with the European Union. Just imagine how much more difficult it would be to break up a partnership of 300 years.
Apparently, by the end of this afternoon, the SNP will claim that the Parliament has voted, again, for a mandate for another independence referendum. I disagree. The SNP does not have a majority in the Parliament.
In 2016, the Greens put forward a proposal that a petition with 1 million signatures would be needed for another independence referendum to be held. I have hunted high and low, but I cannot find such a petition. I would be surprised if it had one name on it, let alone 1 million names, so there is no mandate this afternoon.
The claim that the general election result is a mandate is also false. I admit that, as has been referenced, the SNP did well in the general election. However, 45 per cent of the vote is no more votes than the SNP got in 2014—in fact, because turnout in the general election was lower than it was in the referendum, the SNP got even fewer votes than it got in 2014—so there is no change at all in that regard. I thought that the SNP supported a proportional representation voting system—a fair voting system—but, all of a sudden, it is claiming that having 47 or 48 MPs is a mandate. It is not.
I remember Nicola Sturgeon softening the message in the last week of the general election. I remember her appealing to people who were in favour of the United Kingdom.