IAN Blackford told the Tories yesterday that they were living in a “parallel universe” after they claimed the SNP didn’t win the Scottish parliamentary election or have a mandate for indyref2.
The SNP’s Westminster leader hit out during the debate on the Queen’s Speech in the House of Commons yesterday as Tory backbenchers tried to deny a mandate for a second independence referendum.
He told MPs there is now a “fresh democratic commitment to give the Scottish people the right to choose an independent future” and warned Boris Johnson: “The Prime Minister needs to reflect on this reality. A fight with democracy is a fight he will never, not ever, win.”
“There is a mandate for an independence referendum and let me put this House on notice -–it’s the people of Scotland and our Parliament that will determine when that independence referendum will take place.”
As Blackford told the chamber of the record-breaking numbers the SNP gathered during the Holyrood election last week, Tory backbencher Andrew Bowie tried to deflect by saying it was in fact the Scottish Tories who had a record-breaking election and claimed that First Minister Nicola Sturgeon had misled voters by suggesting there wouldn’t be a second constitutional vote.
But Blackford hit back and said: “I have to say I’m disappointed in the honourable gentleman and I say to him it’s going to be important over the coming weeks and months that we can debate properly what choices are for the future of Scotland.
“And I make this offer to him, all of us that have Scotland’s interests at heart should be able to debate rationally and honestly what those choices are, lets respect the electorate in doing that.
“Mr Speaker, I think everybody knows that the Scottish National Party is the party of independence, everyone knows Mr Speaker without prevarication, without doubt, that the SNP stood on a very clear manifesto commitment of giving the people of Scotland that choice of having a debate and a say in their future.
“It was clearly contained in our manifesto that we said to people to Scotland to put us into government again, allow us to lead country through pandemic, with the promise that we made to the people of Scotland was that if they voted for us in that election, if they delivered a majority for independence in that parliament, that nobody, not the Prime Minister, and certainly not the member of West Aberdeenshire, will stop the people of Scotland having their democratic choice.”
The SNP leader went on to say that the SNP won 62 out of 73 constituencies, 85% of the seats available and the highest number of constituency seats ever won by a party in Scotland, and the highest share of the vote.
He blasted: “For the Conservatives to try to argue that black is white, that they won the election, if you listen to the right honourable gentleman then frankly Mr Speaker nothing can be further from the truth. The truth is the ambition of the Conservative Party in Scotland is to be in opposition, the ambition of the Scottish National Party is to govern and to take our people to independence.”
As the debate went on, hecklers from the Tory backbenchers could be heard telling Blackford that the SNP “didn’t win” as he spoke about Scotland being taken out of the EU against its will after the first indyref in 2014.
He said: “Well, the people of Scotland have given their verdict on that, because the message is very clear, there is a mandate for an independence referendum and let me put this house on notice that it is the people of Scotland and our parliament that will determine when that independence referendum will take place.
“I hear the mocking which is going on – we didn’t win? Can you believe it? You know what, we’ve just taken two seats from the Conservatives in the election, the seat of Edinburgh Central and the seat of Ayr. I don’t know what you call winning. Going by the Westminster rules, you win 62 of the 73 seats and by the warped logic of Conservative backbenchers we haven’t won?
“It’s a parallel universe that the honourable member lives in if that’s what he believes.”
It comes as Blackford told the Tories they are threatening a new level of “hypocrisy and of disrespect” to the Scottish people if they ignore the calls for a second referendum.
Blackford spoke directly to Johnson during his 20-minute speech. The Prime Minister did not respond to any of the points he made.
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