Jumping on the SNP bandwagon; Constitutional crisis looms as Labour and Lib Dem MSPs prepare to reject UK’s Brexit Bill along with SNP and Scottish Greens, the case for reform of Holyrood to downgrade it is becoming an issue, Holyrood has been turned into a vehicle to promote independence referendums, that isn’t its role

Dear All

Holyrood is a disgrace as a parliament, when Donald Dewar muttered ‘There shall be a Scottish Parliament”, sadly what passes for an MSP for the most part is pretty dire, the class of 1999 were crap.

You could talk about certain individuals shortcomings, but lets stick with the main parties, the SNP has managed to cobble together the Scottish Parliament to reject the UK government’s Brexit Bill.

This isn’t a principled stance it is stupidity, the excuse for this nonsense is concerns of a “power grab”. When powers are returned to the UK from the EU, these powers have to be returned to Westminster before being passed down to the devolved parliaments.

It is rocket science.

The SNP are engineering this unprecedented constitutional crisis to attempt to create a climate to demand indyref 2. The SNP has managed to get Labour, Greens and Liberal Democrat MSPs onboard to vote against a legislative consent motion (LCM) at Holyrood.

So, what’s this about, for the Nats, it is about indyref 2, for the Labour and Lib Dems, it is about being seen to stand up for Scotland, cut to the chase, they are scared not losing votes by being ‘labelled’ anti Scottish.

It is high time that some people developed some backbone in the unionist parties, what the Labour Party in Scotland should have done was abstain, there is no benefit to them jumping on the indy bandwagon.

Jumping on the bandwagon then getting off a few stops later are the actions of fools.

In ramping up the rhetoric, Nicola Sturgeon said she would be 'astonished' if MSPs do not refuse legislative consent for the bill. What is becoming clear that the Scottish Parliament needs to be reformed; we need a new Scotland Act to stop this nonsense continually being used as an excuse for a referendum.

In due time, the concerns about the 24 key controls, in areas including farming and fishing will be dealt with, however on fishing, this area should be reserved to Westminster.

UK ministers need to ensure the integrity of the UK single market, to that end, frameworks need to be ironed out and agreed to ensure areas like food standards run smoothly. What the SNP are doing, and what they have always done is cause trouble for trouble’s sake.

Failed ex EducationBrexit minister running Brexit for Sturgeon, Mike Russell said:

“The Scottish Parliament has a powerful opportunity to unite to protect the powers of devolution and make it clear we do not accept the attempt to constrain the powers of the Scottish Parliament as it stands in the current EU Withdrawal Bill. This is not some abstract issue – this covers key policy areas such as farming, food and drink, fisheries and protecting the environment. I have said time and again it is unacceptable that the legislation gives the UK government the power to ban the Scottish Parliament from legislating on devolved areas for up to seven years without the parliament’s consent.”

In an attempt to appear as Scottish leader of an independent country in waiting, Nicola Sturgeon is trying to raise her profile, speaking at a Q&A event in London yesterday, Sturgeon said the UK will prove it can’t be trusted with devolved powers after Brexit if it “carries on regardless” when the Scottish Parliament rejects the EU Withdrawal Bill today.

In one sense I am glad that this matter will end up at the UK Supreme Court because there is only one outcome, Nicola Sturgeon will lose, her petty little scheme is doomed to failure because the UK is sovereign.

Nicola Sturgeon told a business audience any kind of Brexit deal would advance the case for a second Scottish independence referendum, so there you have it, ‘any kind of Brexit deal’, this was never about anything else. In 2021, the Scottish people get a chance to reform Holyrood, what is clear is the SNP has to be removed from power. At the present moment looking at the polling, the people’s votes are in flux, what we might end up with is an SNP minority government with Sturgeon not able to even get a majority with the help of the Scottish Greens.

If the Unionist parties start campaign, they can achieve a stalemate of the SNP not being able to pass a new referendum bill. If Nicola Sturgeon can’t pass a new referendum bill and is able to be the minority government, this is the end of her career.

Tory constitution spokesman Adam Tomkins said:

“It’s profoundly regrettable that we don’t have a deal in Scotland to allow us to move on. The blame for that lies entirely with the SNP. Nicola Sturgeon has refused to compromise. It’s not in Scotland’s interests that the SNP prefers picking fights to making a deal.”

One thing that Tomkins doesn’t grasp is there is no point in making a late appeal to Labour and Liberal Democrat MSPs to back the LCM. Their concern is about votes! I personally wouldn’t have wasted my breath making any overtures to them, life is too short to waste time.

Labour Brexit spokesman Neil Findlay said his party delivered the Scottish Parliament and is determined to “defend devolution”.

And what a failure that has turned out to be.

Findlay said:

“The problems with clause 15, formally clause 11, mean that Labour will vote against the principle of legislative consent for the EU Withdrawal Bill at Holyrood today. The Tories’ shambolic handling of this key area for Scotland is pushing the case towards the Supreme Court.”

Lib Dem Brexit Spokesman Tavish Scott added:

“Liberal Democrat MSPs do not believe that the Scottish Parliament should give consent to the EU Withdrawal Bill.”

Finally, people talk about the need to close Holyrood because since 1999, the institution has been a spectacular failure and a drain on the Scottish taxpayer, we have a whole tier of elected people who have contributed very little for the people of Scotland.

The calibre of MSP is to be kind exceptionally poor, in the old days, it was said that the cream of the Scottish political elite went to Westminster, one thing certain is the cream has gone sour in Holyrood.

Yours sincerely

George Laird

The Campaign for Human Right at Glasgow University