“Scotland’s Right to Choose” 2020-01-08
2020-01-08
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Questions & Answers
Q1
Direct Answer
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Context
The Scottish Secretary is being asked about the implications of a recent publication by the First Minister and the Government's response.
What assessment has he made of the implications for his policies of the Scottish Government's publication entitled “Scotland's Right to Choose”? The Secretary of State repeatedly said to the people of Scotland during the general election campaign that every vote for the Conservatives is a vote to 'say no to indyref2'. That went well for them, didn't it? It saw them lose over half their seats and left them with barely a rump of MPs. Will the Secretary of State now listen to the people of Scotland, as reflected by the 80% of seats won by the SNP, and support their expressed democratic will to choose their own future?
Some 45% of Scots voted for the SNP in the 2019 election, and 45% of Scots voted for independence in 2014. The numbers simply have not changed. Further, in 2014 the independence referendum came on the back of something called the Edinburgh agreement, which was signed by Alex Salmond and Nicola Sturgeon, the then deputy leader. The Edinburgh agreement stated that both parties would respect the outcome of the referendum, and that has not happened.
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Q2
Direct Answer
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The Scottish Secretary had anticipated that the Scottish Parliament will refuse legislative consent for the EU Withdrawal Agreement Bill.
A good new year to you, Mr Speaker. The Scottish Secretary has anticipated that the Scottish Parliament will refuse legislative consent for the European Union (Withdrawal Agreement) Bill. He said, “that's something we understand and respect because their position is that they don't support Brexit.” When consent is refused today, how will the UK Government demonstrate that respect?
What we are respecting is the democratic outcome of referendums, which the SNP does not respect. The referendum in 2016 was a United Kingdom referendum, and we voted to leave the European Union. We are respecting that. Under the Sewel convention, we have provision for what is known as “not normal”. This is a constitutional matter. Constitutional matters are reserved, and they are not normally under the remit of the Scottish Parliament. We are delivering what the 2016 referendum requested us to deliver.
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Q3
Direct Answer
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Education standards are falling and the NHS is failing patients with missed waiting-time targets.
I welcome the new ministerial team to the Scotland Office. In Scotland, education standards are falling and the NHS is failing patients with missed waiting-time targets. Does the Secretary of State share my embarrassment that the First Minister of Scotland, rather than sorting out these important issues, is obsessing with independence?
Yes.
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Q4
Direct Answer
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The SNP has a right to make the case for independence but dragging people around the same mountain time and again is not productive.
Does my right hon. Friend agree that the SNP has every right to continue making the case for independence, and to do so with passion and force, but that what it does not have the right to do is to keep dragging the people of Scotland and Scottish businesses around the same mountain time and time again to try to get the answer it did not get the first time?
My right hon. Friend makes a good point. What Scotland needs now is a period of peace and tranquillity, not division and rancour. We need to take the opportunities that Brexit will bring us, not least on the common fisheries policy and other great trade deals, and make 2020 a year of optimism and growth.
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Q5
Direct Answer
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The NHS is a precious asset for people in Scotland, but the Scottish Government's obsession with independence detracts from their focus on the NHS.
The NHS is a precious asset that is just as important to people in Scotland as it is to my constituents in Redditch. Does my right hon. Friend agree that the Scottish Government's obsessive attraction to independence detracts from their focus on the NHS? They should focus first on the people of Scotland who are missing the 12-week treatment target, which the Scottish Government have never met.
Yes, my hon. Friend makes a good point. Today's The Herald highlights the fact that accident and emergency waiting times have deteriorated in Scotland to a record low, with record numbers of patients now waiting more than 12 hours to be treated.
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