LAST week is likely to go down as the week that it became clear that Theresa May’s Brexit deal was dead and her premiership close to an end.
It is hard to describe the atmosphere at Westminster which to an extent resembled the last days of ancient Rome – without the wine and the sex, as someone said of the demise of the Labour Party in Scotland in 2015. Loyalties in the two major parties are fractured and there is a constant air of conspiracy and plotting.
READ MORE: May's deal savaged as 'useless' by Brexit Committee
It was left to Scotland to show the strength that comes from cross-party working. At Holyrood, the Tories were isolated as all the other opposition parties joined forces with the SNP to condemn the deal.
While at the European Court of Justice in Luxembourg (CJEU), what has come to be known as “the Scottish case” triumphed at the penultimate hurdle when, on Tuesday, the Advocate General issued his preliminary opinion that Article 50 may indeed be unilaterally revoked.
I and my fellow SNP, Scottish Green and Labour petitioners, together with our inspirational funder Jo Maugham QC, shared a sense of immense pride as our long struggle got closer to what I believe will be our final victory when, tomorrow morning at 8am British time, the Grand Chamber will issue their judgment.
Even the PM, questioned by me at PMQs, thinks the court will follow the Advocate General’s lead. When the decision came out I toured the TV and radio studios to talk about it. At last the BBC, Sky News and others were taking an interest joined by news channels from across the world from RTE to Al Jazeera. Once more I was astonished that so many in the MSM had been blissfully unaware of the case which now could throw the UK Parliament a lifeline as it struggles for a way out of the Brexit mess. I was left with the feeling that if the case had been pursued by English politicians in the London courts interest would have been higher…
Alex Salmond was quick to remind me that his show has taken a close interest in the case from the outset and that he and Kenny MacAskill had correctly predicted that if we won this case, now known as “the Scottish case”, it could change everything.
Meanwhile the UK Government was defeated three times on the floor of the House and became the first to be found in contempt of Parliament; at PMQs Ian Blackford scored a major hit on the PM for her misleading statements about the Northern Ireland backstop and after a series of strong speeches from SNP MPs in the crucial debate on the deal, many again hailed us as the real opposition.
READ MORE: Tories are 'waking up to reality of humiliating defeat'
However, perhaps the defining moment of the week in terms of underlining the PM’s isolation and imminent defeat was when the EU Select Committee met on Wednesday morning to discuss our report on the deal. The committee consists of 10 Tory MPs, one DUP, six Labour, two SNP, one Plaid and one LibDem. Five of the Tories and the DUP member are confirmed Brexiteers and it has proved impossible for us to produce a unanimous report in this Parliament. In addition, the committee has united to emphasise that if the deal is rejected, Parliament must be given an opportunity to have a meaningful debate on the other options, which may include the extension of Article 50. This is exactly what the joint SNP and Plaid Cymru amendment seeks to achieve.
The committee also emphasised that negotiations on the future relationship between the UK and the EU will profoundly affect the devolved administrations and, that, for the sake of the future of the United Kingdom, it is essential that the voices of the devolved administrations are heard.
I am sure many readers will agree that it is perhaps a little late for that. That is why last week, when I lead for the SNP on day two of the debate, I chose to emphasise that even if Brexit is stopped by means of the lifeline afforded by the ECJ decision and a second vote, the question of Scottish independence will not go away. Brexit has thrown into sharp relief the difference between being an equal partner in the EU and Scotland’s unequal status in the UK.
The lie that we have the most powerful devolved parliament in the world has been exposed. And as I have been out and about talking to my constituents this weekend, it is clear to me that Scots are waking up to the fact that only independence in the EU can save us from further debacles such as Brexit.
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