Attn newsdesks/political reporters

For immediate release: Saturday 19/11/16

SALMOND MOCKS BREXIT TORIES "CAUGHT TELLING THE TRUTH" ABOUT THEIR CONTEMPT FOR SCOTLAND

SNP International Affairs spokesperson, Alex Salmond MP, has mocked the procession of top Tories on the BBC Radio 4 Today programme who called on the Prime Minister to abandon the Supreme Court Appeal because of the "risk" that Scotland might be awarded "some rights"

Mr Salmond said:

"Sir Oliver Letwin and co. have now blurted out the true blue Tory attitude towards Scotland. They would even rather abandon the Brexit appeal than take any chance of the Supreme Court being sensitive to Scottish-European concerns.

"Every Tory in Scotland should cringe with embarrassment as the Tory contempt for Scotland's rights as a nation has been laid bare.

"The trouble for the Tories in Scotland is that their Westminster colleagues have been caught telling the truth about their anti-Scottish prejudices."

ENDS

Notes to Editors

Former minister Sir Oliver, who oversaw a "Brexit Unit" in the Cabinet Office after the referendum, told BBC Radio 4's Today Programme that the Supreme Court hearing could see ministers' powers outside Parliament curbed.

He added that one of the advantages of bringing a "fast and tightly timetabled and constrained bill" to Parliament, giving the government the ability to trigger Brexit without any constraints on its negotiating power, was that it avoided "any risk of the Supreme Court deciding to accord the devolved administrations some rights or even some veto powers" over triggering Article 50.