Business of the House

Gavin Newlands Excerpts

Thursday 14th July 2022 Commons Chamber

[Mark Spencer]

I will pass on the hon. Lady’s comments to the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions. I know that the Department does a huge amount of work to support people on benefits and to try to help them get back into work, but I will make sure I pass her comments on directly to the Minister.

[Gavin Newlands (Paisley and Renfrewshire North) (SNP)]

We are told time and time again that this is a voluntary Union of equals, but with the plague of democracy denying and the choruses of “Now is not the time”, it certainly does not feel like it. The former Chancellor and current frontrunner for leader, the right hon. Member for Richmond (Yorks) (Rishi Sunak) said in 2017:

“It seems hard to block a referendum, but we should push the timing until after Brexit”.

The Scottish Government have an unquestionable mandate from the electorate, which was demanded as a prerequisite by the Scottish Labour leader Anas Sarwar in 2016. We live in a country signed up to article 1 of the UN charter on self-determination, so can we have a debate on self-determination and the routes available to it in a so-called model democracy?

[Mark Spencer]

I strongly suspect that the hon. Gentleman and his colleagues will continue to press for such debates. I am of the view that there are huge challenges facing people across the United Kingdom, including in Scotland with the cost of living challenge, with children in Scotland being let down by the SNP Government and their education system and with the SNP Government not getting on with delivering ferries. I understand why they want to try to distract from some of the shortcomings of their Government, but there are bigger things to concentrate on at this moment in time.