This Week in Westminster: more deadlock as Government faces another Brexit defeat

by Olaf Stando
Posted on
5 years ago
4 min read
15/02/191:15pm

Parliament Square was overtaken by young protesters taking a stand on climate change

Thousands of students descended on Whitehall and Parliament Square to demand action on climate change, and take a stand on protecting our environment.

Shamefully, Downing Street condemned the action, adding that it does nothing but “wasting lesson time”.

Meanwhile, the Scottish Government takes climate change extremely seriously and takes world-leading action, which includes aiming to be carbon neutral by 2050, generating 70% of our electricity from renewables, and investing in cutting-edge research on green energy.

14/02/191:30pm

The UK Government suffered another humiliating defeat on Brexit, but Labour sat on their hands when it came to preventing no-deal

On Thursday morning, the SNP submitted an amendment designed to prevent the UK crashing out of the EU without a deal on the 29th March, by requesting an Article 50 extension.

Unfortunately, Labour once again put party unity above common sense and economic logic. By abstaining on the SNP amendment, they once again abdicated responsibility and did nothing to prevent a no-deal Brexit.

In the next vote, the UK Government got defeated on its Brexit motion, leaving the pursuit of renegotiating the backstop in limbo. The hard-right Brexit faction within the Tory party abstained on the motion and are continuing to hold the Government to ransom.

13/02/195:00pm

The Prime Minister still refused to rule out no-deal

On Wednesday, at Prime Minister’s Questions, Ian Blackford asked Theresa May a straight question: will she delay the meaningful vote on her deal until the very last minute?

She failed to answer. It is still not clear when the meaningful vote will come, and as the UK Parliament continues to get deeper into deadlock, the prospect of no-deal is causing lots of anxiety among businesses, public services and EU citizens.

So why is Theresa May still refusing to rule out no-deal? Because she’s completely hamstrung by the ERG: the party of Brexit extremists within the Conservative party.
It’s time she stopped pandering to them and considered Scotland’s wishes instead.

12/02/192:15pm

Theresa May lied to Parliament, and Ian Blackford did not let that pass

On Tuesday, Theresa May gave a statement on the latest progress of the Brexit negotiations which outlined that there has been no progress at all.

She was asked by the Brexit extremists to get rid of the backstop and reopen her Brexit deal, but after going to Brussels, she achieved nothing again.
She has no negotiating leverage, no viable plan, and no authority among EU leaders.

And while the Brexit clock is ticking and the threat of no-deal is becoming more real by the day, the Prime Minister is refusing to rule it out.

The Government has not even published any economic analysis of Theresa May’s Brexit deal.
When Ian Blackford raised this in response to her statement, Theresa May told a straight lie, claiming that the Government did in fact publish an analysis.
This beggars belief.

11/02/193:31pm

SNP MP outlined the real human cost of cruel Tory approach to welfare, but Amber Rudd seemed in denial

When Peter Grant brought up a case of his constituent who, like many others, were directly affected by the callous benefit assessment system, Amber Rudd answered by quoting empty statistics at him and not even trying to acknowledge the problem.

This UK Tory Government is trying to strip people of benefits, because of its ideological obsession of cutting the state. The system isn’t working, and needs to be changed to stop more injustice and suffering.

In stark contrast, the Scottish Government is creating a Scottish welfare system with fairness and compassion at heart, but without more devolved powers, we cannot fully mitigate disastrous Tory policies.