KEZIA Dugdale has delivered a humiliating rejection of Jeremy Corbyn’s approach to Brexit by announcing she will vote against the triggering of Article 50 at Holyrood today.
Despite Mr Corbyn ordering his MPs to back the UK Government’s EU Withdrawal Bill in the Commons, his Scottish leader said it left too many unanswered questions to support.
Ms Dugdale said Scottish Labour accepted the UK was leaving the European Union, but not the terms of the “hard Brexit” currently being proposed by Theresa May.
Read more: Scottish Labour conference to focus on second independence referendum
Although the vote at Holyrood is symbolic, it has laid bare the Brexit divisions within Labour ahead of its Scottish conference this month.
Mr Corbyn, who has tried in vain to achieve a coordinated Labour position on Article 50, is already facing a rebellion from around a third of his MPs on the issue.
South of the border, many instinctively Remain Labour MPs have felt obliged to support the legislation empowering Mrs May to trigger Brexit as their constituents voted Leave.
However others from pro-Remain seats have refused to back a step their voters don’t want.
In Scotland, where every constituency voted Remain, Labour’s only MP, Edinburgh’s South Ian Murray, last week opposed the first vote on the legislation in defiance of a three-line whip.
The SNP said Labour was indulging in the “politics of fantasy”, with Ms Dugdale’s position rendered irrelevant by Labour’s support for a “hard Brexit” at Westminster.
The issue has been brought into focus by a SNP motion urging MSPs agree the Article 50 Bill “should not proceed” because the UK government has failed to develop an agreed UK-wide position on Brexit and the lack of detail over the policy implications of exiting the single market.
Read more: Scottish Labour conference to focus on second independence referendum
A Labour amendment echoes some of the SNP position, but with the important proviso that “there should not be a second Scottish independence referendum”.
Crucially, it adds the Article 50 Bill “should not proceed until the Government has set out detail on the full range of unanswered questions" about the negative impact on people and jobs.
Ms Dugdale, who backed Owen Smith against Mr Corbyn in last year's leadership contest, said: “While the Bill to leave the EU is still progressing through the House of Commons, Labour in Holyrood will send a clear message that we do not support a hard Brexit.
“The UK is leaving the EU, but there is no reason why Scottish Labour and the Scottish Parliament should not give a voice to the wishes of the vast majority of Scottish people."
The Supreme Court ruled last month that MSPs are not entitled to a vote on Article 50 under the Sewel Convention, so today’s non-binding vote has no legal effect.
However Nicola Sturgeon said its political implications made it “one of the most significant votes in the history of the Scottish Parliament since devolution”.
She said: “This Holyrood debate is a chance for our national parliament to reaffirm the voice of the people of Scotland and make clear that, as a nation, we oppose the catastrophic hard Brexit now being pursued by the Tories at Westminster.
Read more: Scottish Labour conference to focus on second independence referendum
“This vote is far more than symbolic. It is a key test of whether Scotland’s voice is being listened to and whether our wishes can be accommodated within the UK process.
“If the Scottish Parliament votes against triggering Article 50 and the UK Government ignores Holyrood, then people across Scotland will be right to start thinking about how our national interests are best served.”
A UK Government spokesperson said: “The Scottish Parliament is free to debate any issue it chooses, and indeed has discussed Brexit on many occasions.
“Scotland's 59 MPs will scrutinise and vote on the EU (Notification of Withdrawal) Bill?, which relates to reserved matters under the devolution settlement.
“The UK Government will continue our engagement with the Scottish Government and with people and groups across Scotland… to secure the best deal for Scotland and the UK.”
Scottish Conservative whip John Lamont said: “Most people want a government that is focussed on improving education, supporting the NHS, and backing a growing economy.
“Yet for the First Minister the most significant issue in her in-box is to use Brexit to manufacture a case for independence. Unlike Labour, we will have no truck with the SNP's nationalist games. We will oppose the SNP today and oppose their unwanted attempt to take us back to a second referendum on independence.”
Scottish Liberal Democrat leader Willie Rennie said his party had an “unapologetically” pro-UK and pro-EU stand, and would vote against the triggering of Article 50.
“The First Minister must not use the reckless nationalism of the Tories to benefit her own brand of nationalism which will only compound the chaos of Brexit further. ”
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