Article 50

Alan Brown Excerpts

Wednesday 29th March 2017 Commons Chamber

[The Prime Minister]

There is no question of riding roughshod over the votes of anybody in the United Kingdom. The United Kingdom held a referendum. This Parliament agreed that the decision to leave the European Union or not should be given to the British people across the whole of the United Kingdom, and they chose to vote to leave the European Union. The Government are now respecting the result of that referendum.

[Alan Brown (Kilmarnock and Loudoun) (SNP)]

Despite her having a majority in this House, there are a few facts that the Prime Minister needs to remember about the 2015 general election. First, the Tories only got 36% of the vote in the UK. They got less than 15% of the vote in Scotland and only one MP—their worst performance since 1865. In last year’s Scottish Parliament election, the Ruth Davidson party was still only third in the constituency votes. By contrast, the SNP Government were re-elected with the biggest vote share of any Government in western Europe, and in their manifesto was a pledge to hold a referendum if Scotland was dragged out of Europe against its will. The Prime Minister says that she has answered this question but why, then, with absolutely no mandate in Scotland whatsoever, does she think that she can continue to stand at the Dispatch Box and try to take control of the timing of the referendum?

[The Prime Minister]

This is the United Kingdom Parliament and as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom I have said, and I continue to say, that I think that now is not the time for a second independence referendum. Indeed, now is not the time to be focusing on a second independence referendum. At this time, we should be focusing on working to ensure that we get the best deal for the whole of the United Kingdom as we leave the EU.