European Union (Withdrawal Agreement) Bill

Peter Grant Excerpts

2nd reading & 2nd reading: House of Commons & Money resolution: House of Commons & Programme motion: House of Commons & Ways and Means resolution: House of Commons & Money resolution & Programme motion & Ways and Means resolution
Friday 20th December 2019 Commons Chamber

[Peter Grant (Glenrothes) (SNP)]

I am pleased to be able to speak in the debate. I will be speaking and voting against the Bill, as I did two months ago. In the intervening period, I have had the endorsement of 51.5% of my electorate, for which I am enormously grateful. More importantly, my constituents voted by a majority of four to one for candidates who were opposed to the Bill. My nation—my one nation—voted by three to one for candidates and parties that are against it. Therefore, to everyone who has told the Scottish National party and Opposition parties of Scotland that there is now some kind of duty on us to tag along with the Prime Minister, I say there is not. The only duty that any MP from Scotland can possibly discharge is to vote against this Bill, vote against this Brexit, and vote against a Government who are determined to show their complete contempt for the sovereign status of the citizens of Scotland—sovereign status that this Parliament unanimously agreed less than two years ago.

I hear people saying that this is a great time and a great victory for the people. The Secretary of State wrote to us all yesterday to say what a great advance the Bill was for the rights of citizens. No, it is not. There is not a single citizen of these islands whose rights will be enhanced by the passage of the Bill. Tens of millions of citizens will see their rights diminished. Three million are now having to call into question yet again whether they will continue to have the right to live, work and love here, as they always have done.

The Prime Minister made promises before the referendum, on 1 June 2016, but he broke those promises. I challenged him about that on 25 July 2019—Members can check Hansard if they want—and he promised that EU citizens would continue to have exactly the same rights after Brexit as they have just now, but he then published this Bill, which tears up those promises.

When it comes to citizens’ rights, the rights of child refugees, environmental protection and food standards, the Government and Conservative Back Benchers say to us, “That is not in the Bill, but trust the Prime Minister.” Last week, Scotland gave the Prime Minister a very clear message: “We do not believe you, we do not trust you and we will not allow you to take our nation out of this union of nations against the expressed will of our people.” That will was expressed in 2016 and 2017, and twice in 2019. The Government are reaching out across the House, but when will they listen?

We heard a lot from earlier speakers about how important it is for a Government to abide by their manifesto, and what happens to parties when they do not. I suggest that as part of their Christmas reading, Conservative Members look at the manifesto on which the national Government of Scotland were elected in 2016. I suggest that they look, in particular, at the mandate that was sought, and given, as to what Scotland should do if and when we are taken out of the European Union against our will.

I ask reasonable Conservative Members—I know that there are quite a few—to please speak to their Prime Minister and warn him about what will happen if he attempts to stand in the way of a democratically elected national Government who are doing no more than delivering on the promises that they were trusted to deliver by the people of Scotland. Brexit is essentially about England’s inability to sort out its relationship with Europe. Scotland and Northern Ireland voted against Brexit, and Wales voted for it but without a great deal of enthusiasm. I say to Members who represent English constituencies that if they take this step and go past the point of no return in their relationship with their neighbours across the North sea, the channel and the Irish sea, they will also take England past the point of no return in its Union with its neighbour across the Solway firth.