Meeting of the Parliament (Hybrid) 30 December 2020
I quote:
“This week’s vote is NOT about ‘EU membership’. The United Kingdom hasn’t been a member of the EU since 31 January. We’ve already left and there’s no going back ... The only options on the table are the deal or no deal, and if you vote against the first one then you’re inescapably voting for the second one, and all but the very dimmest, blindest SNP loyalists can see that.”
In 10 years as an MSP, I do not think that I have ever quoted Wings Over Scotland; I am not sure which of us will be more surprised that I have now done so.
However, that quotation is a pretty succinct summation of where we are. Today’s debate is not about overturning the referendum, refighting the arguments of the past or arguing for some mythical other deal that is just over the next hill. Furthermore, the facts are not dependent on which way we voted. Whether we voted to leave or to remain, it is indisputably true that we ceased to be a member of the European Union 11 months ago and that the transition period that was put in place will end, by law, tomorrow.
Those are the facts on the ground—they are the realities against which today’s debate is taking place and they are the backdrop against which a legislative consent motion is being requested.
Those facts also provide the context within which the Scottish National Party’s contortions over the past 48 hours need to judged, because it would have us all believe that this is a matter of principle for it and that it is acting only in Scotland’s interests. However, the truth is the exact opposite. The SNP is acting in its own narrow nationalist self-interest by voting today against the very thing that it has spent months demanding be delivered—an EU trade deal.
A trade deal, which the SNP demanded, is on the table. It has been negotiated by the UK and the EU, it is supported by the Presidents of the European Commission and the European Council, and it has been formally approved by the EU ambassadors. It will come into effect only if it is passed by the Parliament on these shores. If the deal is not voted for, the UK will leave without a deal, because there is no other option.
Therefore, let us see what Nicola Sturgeon thinks of no deal. She has said that
“Leaving the European Union with No Deal would be devastating for the Scottish economy”
and that if there is not a deal and
“it looks like the UK could leave without a deal, that would be catastrophic ... no deal should simply not be allowed to happen”.
She has said that
“the ... Prime Minister, has set the UK on an almost inevitable path to a No Deal Brexit”,
and that “The position” that has been
“taken makes it very difficult to see how any deal can be struck with the EU and I think that would be catastrophic for Scotland”.