PMQs descends into chaos as SNP leader is ejected in row over lack of time given to debate devolution

The SNP has warned of a “complete breakdown” in relations between Edinburgh and London as their leader at Westminster launched a campaign of parliamentary guerrilla tactics to cause maximum disruption to Theresa May’s government.

Ian Blackford, the party’s leader in the Commons, said it could no longer be “business as usual” between Holyrood and Westminster after what he described as a “power grab” by the government was passed after just 15 minutes of debate.

Prime minister’s questions descended into pandemonium after SNP MPs walked out en masse as part of a protest over the lack of time given to the debate on devolution issues connected to Brexit.

But the SNP was accused by its opponents of being “locked in a toxic embrace” with the Tories in which the constitutional crisis was used to shore up the party’s grassroots’ support and keep its independence dreams alive.

After a day of high parliamentary drama, Blackford accused the government of attempting to claw back powers from Holyrood, including over farming, fisheries and the environment, after leaving the EU without giving MPs time for debate.

The SNP leader was ejected from the Commons for repeatedly refusing to sit down after the Speaker, John Bercow, declined his request for an immediate vote on holding a fresh debate so MPs’ voices could be heard.

With Bercow struggling to keep control of the rowdy chamber, he ordered Blackford to be barred from the Commons for the rest of the day, citing his “persistent and repeated” refusal to sit down and allow May to continue.

After a brief standoff, in a planned move the entire contingent of SNP MPs marched out of the chamber in protest, to sarcastic cheers of “Bye!” from the government benches.

Outside the Commons and surrounded by more than a dozen of his MPs, Blackford said: “This is the beginning of something, not the end … They’re taking us on, so they’re going to find we are taking them on. We’ll use every measure at our disposal.



“This isn’t a stunt, this is about the harsh reality of the British government acting against the interests of the Scottish people and the Scottish government. It’s new territory, this can’t be business as usual.

“It is a complete breakdown in relations because there’s disrespect which has been shown to the Scottish parliament by the Conservatives. They need to understand that there is a change in the relationship as a consequence.”

His threat to cause trouble on a “day-by-day, week-by-week” basis raises the prospect of the SNP, the third biggest party in the Commons, obstructing votes, delaying debates and raising as many obstacles to the passage of legislation as its 35 MPs can muster.

The SNP outrage was prompted by the amount of time devoted to debating Lords amendments to the EU withdrawal bill on Tuesday. While three hours was devoted to a series of proposals including the meaningful vote, devolved issues only got 15 minutes.

The party said it had signed up 1,110 new members since midday on Wednesday after the row.

At the heart of the row is the government’s plan to retain control of 24 key areas once powers return from Brussels, which it says will be a temporary move in order to allow rules and regulations to remain in place across the whole UK.

The vast majority of the 158 devolved policy areas powers will return directly from Brussels to the devolved administrations. The Scottish parliament refused consent for the Brexit bill in February.

The SNP leader and Scottish first minister, Nicola Sturgeon, tweeted minutes after the walkout that she was “right behind” her party’s MPs, claiming that Scotland and Holyrood were “being treated with contempt” by Westminster.



However, the Lib Dem MP Christine Jardine said: “Neither the SNP or the Conservatives appear to want a solution to the impasse, it suits them both. The SNP wants to crank up the grievance narrative to help them get another independence referendum that most people do not actually want.

“And it suits the Conservatives to have the constitutional debate kept alive. They’d far rather keep talking about that, than the matters people really care about.”

The Labour MP Paul Sweeney said: “The SNP’s only oxygen is on constitutional issues and they and the Conservatives are locked in a toxic embrace on the matter. As long as they can keep the focus on the constitution and not on issues like fighting poverty or investing in our economy they’ll continue to feed the beast.”

The Scotland secretary, David Mundell, who will make a statement in the Commons, said: “It was putting a stunt over substance. If the concerns were real then their priority would have been to have a debate to hold the government to account.”

On Thursday, the first minister of Wales, Carwyn Jones, will call on May to “come clean” on Brexit. In a speech to be delivered at King’s College in London, Jones will say: “I urge the prime minister to use the UK government’s eagerly anticipated white paper as last opportunity to come clean on Brexit, to erase the wobbly red lines and to get the country into a proper Brexit-ready position.

“The UK government is set on a course where the UK neither has its cake nor gets the chance to eat it. Worse still, is the very real possibility of a catastrophic no-deal Brexit.”

He will continue: “It is to go back to the drawing board. Rub out the red lines and argue for a dynamic and positive relationship with the single market, a solution where the UK makes a positive commitment to working with the EU27 to retain alignment with the single market as a regulatory space, and a new, durable customs union with the EU.

“If we are to achieve the right Brexit outcome, we need a different approach to the negotiations. Rather than acting as cheerleaders for populist attacks on the core principles of the EU, we need to provide reassurance that we respect the rights of the EU to safeguard the coherence of the single market, which we did so much to create.”