Holyrood refuses consent for Boris Johnson's Brexit trade deal

Despite that overwhelming defeat, the vote was largely symbolic with the Scottish Parliament ultimately having no power to stop Westminster legislating even in devolved areas.

Nicola Sturgeon said the agreement would be a “Boris Johnson-imposed democratic, social and economic calamity for Scotland”.

It was a heated debate, and the conclusion was never in doubt. Only the Tories backed the deal. The SNP’s Alex Neil, who supported Brexit, abstained.

Opening the debate, the First Minister said the agreement was “the worst negotiating outcome in history”.

It would, she said, deliver a “hard Brexit for Scotland, and a comprehensive sell out of the Scottish fishing industry”.

READ MORE: The Brexit debate was a big, empty box-ticking exercise for Britain

Sturgeon hit out at the Scottish Tories, accusing them of being “Boris Johnson’s mouthpiece”.

“They will abandon any principle, break any promise, sell out any sector if Westminster and Boris Johnson tell them to,” she warned.

The First Minister suggested that Scottish Tory leader, Ruth Davidson, had surrendered her red lines on the deal after being made a baroness by Johnson.

“Not that long ago Ruth Davidson made it known that she would resign, rather than support a differential deal for Northern Ireland,” she said.

“It’s amazing what the offer of a place in the House of Lords can do to the merest whiff of a Ruth Davidson principle.

“[Tory MSP] Adam Tomkins went even further. No Unionist, he said, could never endorse any sort of differentiated deal for Northern Ireland.

“That’s what this deal delivers, a hard Brexit for Scotland, and a special Single Market deal for Northern Ireland.

“They’re even dragging us out of Erasmus, a truly wonderful horizon-expanding scheme that gives young people opportunities to live and study across Europe. And again the Tories have told us that wouldn’t happen.

“‘Erasmus is something which all parties agree must continue post Brexit’, the words of Jackson Carlaw.

“But the UK Government has now turned its back on Erasmus and sold out young people as well. And Jackson Carlaw? Not a peep. I can only assume that his ermine cloak is in the post.

“What is now very clear is this, the Scottish Tories are ignored by their Westminster bosses, just like Scotland as a whole is.

“But they lack the gumption or the self-respect to do anything about it. They are Boris Johnson’s mouthpiece. They will abandon any principle, break any promise, sell out any sector if Westminster and Boris Johnson tell them to. Today is conclusive proof of that.”

The Brexit deal, the First Minister said had, “no benefits, only massive downsides”.

Ruth Davidson clashed with the First Minister

Sturgeon accused the UK Government of showing “utter contempt for Scotland and our people” with the Brexit deal.

She said the agreement with the EU will “make us less free” and cost UK businesses £7 billion each year in added regulatory requirements.

“This must be the worst negotiating outcome in history, a hard Brexit for Scotland, and a comprehensive sell-out of the Scottish fishing industry,” Sturgeon said.

Challenged by Scottish Tory MSP Dean Lockhart about the UK being able to strike new free trade deals immediately, Sturgeon replied: “None of these free trade agreements will make up for membership of the world’s biggest single market that, in two days time, we get ripped off against our will.”

In her speech, Ruth Davidson accused the SNP of “hypocrisy”.

Davidson said the choice was between a deal or No Deal and said the SNP was “stoking up division”.

She said: “To vote against the deal is to vote against zero trade zero tariffs, to vote against deep security intelligence co-operation – never before, offered by the EU in such an agreement.

“It’s voting against participation in science and research and space programmes.

“It is voting against agreements for airlines and hauliers and is voting against securing access for our fishermen to markets for their products, and is voting against recognition for geographical indicators like Scotch whisky, Stornoway black pudding and Arbroath Smokies.”

Why, she asked, did the First Minister hate Arbroath Smokies.

Sturgeon replied: “Every single thing that Ruth Davidson has just listed, we had as members of the European Union.”

READ MORE: Joanna Cherry: So much has been thrown under bus to achieve one Tory aim

Davidson also described Scottish Labour as a “feckless, useless SNP tribute act” for opposing the deal.

Richard Leonard denied there was any inconsistency in his party’s position. While MSPs voted against giving the deal legislative consent, Labour’s MPs backed it in the Commons.

He told MSPs: “A vote against the proposition in Westminster today is to risk the chaos and damage of a No-Deal outcome. And you can’t say by voting against it, as SNP MPs will do today, that wasn’t what we meant.

“That’s what will happen, which is why Labour MPs will reluctantly vote for the deal because the alternative would be chaos.”

Scottish Greens co-leader Patrick Harvie said the passing of the deal at Westminster was the beginning of the campaign to rejoin the EU.

He said: “To some people, it might feel like the end of a period of extraordinary chaos, incompetence and hubris in the governance of the UK.

“To me, this moment is not an end; in the long run, it will mark only a temporary interruption of our place in the European family. It is the beginning of a campaign to rejoin.”

LibDem leader Willie Rennie said people would look back in astonishment “that the UK Government voluntarily pursued this big bang change in the middle of a global pandemic with the biggest economic and health crisis this country has ever faced.”