BORIS Johnson has once again demonstrated that he does not believe the rules apply to him by failing to come to Parliament to answer an urgent question from the SNP, Ian Blackford has said.
The SNP’s Westminster leader, Blackford had asked the Tory leader to update the Commons following his trip to India.
The SNP MP said there is a “clear convention” that prime ministers would report to Parliament after significant summits or important foreign visits.
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“This convention has been respected and followed by all prime ministers in recent years,” Blackford said. “But like on so many other matters, the only exception to that rule is the current Prime Minister.”
He went on: “The Prime Minister failing to come before this house is by no means a one-off. He has failed to come before the house after the extraordinary Nato summit in March.
“This is a Prime Minister who has no respect for the office he occupies, and even less respect for this House.”
'The only exception to the rule is the current Prime Minister'
— The National (@ScotNational) April 26, 2022
Ian Blackford skewered Boris Johnson after he broke yet another of Westminster's conventions 👇 pic.twitter.com/41Hh1Z6moh
Instead of appearing in Westminster, Blackford claimed Johnson had chosen to go campaigning for his party in the local elections.
"I suspect that won't do them much good," he quipped.
The SNP MP also raised concerns that the free-trade agreement Johnson had aimed to discuss with his Indian counterpart Narendra Modi would impact negatively on Scottish farmers and crofters.
Answering in Johnson’s place was Tory MP Vicky Ford, the Foreign Office minister for Africa, Latin America and the Caribbean.
Ford said that Johnson and Modi had agreed “to conclude the majority of talks on a comprehensive and balanced free trade agreement by the end of October this year”.
She further claimed that the agreement would be of “particular benefit” to Scottish people as it would likely see the export tariff on Scotch whisky – which currently stands on 150% – slashed.
Johnson’s trip to India allowed him to dodge a debate in the Commons last week which saw MPs agree to launch a probe into whether he deliberately misled Parliament over the Partygate scandal.
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