There can be no doubt that the SNP has been left frustrated by the stymieing of its attempt to hold a debate in the House of Commons on a motion calling for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza, with the party’s Westminster leader, Stephen Flynn, accusing the Speaker of going back on his word.
But could the party’s MPs be guilty of being too supine in the Palace of Westminster? Today one of our readers argues that that is the case.
Hugh Kerr of Edinburgh writes:
"After the denial of a new debate on Gaza to the SNP, and the skulduggery by Labour and the Speaker on the original Gaza debate, can there be any doubt that the Westminster Parliament is irrelevant to Scottish needs? What’s more it’s clear that SNP MPs have for the last few years been too intent on 'settling in at Westminster' and not on 'settling up' on behalf of Scotland. Indeed I recall my local SNP MP Tommy Sheppard assuring the House of Commons that he wasn’t going to be creating trouble but being a good MP. I nominated him for the seat when I was an SNP member in 2015 and campaigned for his election. I have to say he has been a sad disappointment since.
"There was another choice of how to behave at Westminster and that has been demonstrated by Alba’s two MPs, Kenny MacAskill and Neale Hanvey, since they joined the party two years ago. Mr MacAskill has been consistently raising the question of how Scotland is being robbed of our energy whether oil or wind and then charged much more for it by the UK Government. Lately he has been leading the campaign to save the Grangemouth refinery and sadly the SNP boycotted his debate. Mr Hanvey has placed a bill on independence in the Commons. Also, the Alba MPs were thrown out by the Speaker when they protested about the neglect of Scottish issues.
"So what should Scotland do about the coming General Election? Well, people can vote for Labour, which clearly under Sir Keir Starmer has no interest in Scotland. They can vote for the SNP, whose MPs are clearly desperate to hold on to their £80k a year seats. Or they can vote for Alba candidates; I hope to be one in Edinburgh. We don’t expect to win but we will give discontented SNP voters, and there are a lot of them, a chance of voting for an independence platform that is clear: Westminster is not our Parliament and the real elections which matter are the Scottish Parliament elections. Then the issue should be clear: a vote for an independence-supporting MSP will lead as soon as possible towards a Declaration of Independence."
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