Theresa May’s Brexit deal has been emphatically rejected by MSPs in what may well prove a foretaste of events at Westminster next week.
Labour, the LibDems, SNP and Greens united at Holyrood to reject the Prime Minister’s deal and a No Deal Brexit, and demanded a “better alternative be taken forward”.
Only the Scottish Tories voted against the motion, with the LibDems branding them “lemmings” who were ready to throw themselves blindly into the Brexit “abyss”.
The vote was a symbolic one, but illustrated the cross-party alliance the UK government is likely to face when MPs vote on the PM's deal in the Commons on Tuesday.
MSPs voted by 92 to 29 in favour of a motion which rejected Mrs May’s deal and No Deal as “damaging for Scotland and the nations and regions of the UK as a whole".
Although they opposed the motion after a frequently noisy and bad-tempered debate, the Scottish Tories tellingly chose not to table an amendment endorsing Mrs May’s deal.
One Tory insider said it was because the party’s MSPs, like its MPs, were divided over the Prime Minister’s compromise plan, admitting: “There are a variety of views.”
Brexiter Tory Jamie Greene and Remainer Tory Liz Smith both said the deal was imperfect.
After the vote, SNP Constitutional Relations Secretary Michael Russell said Mrs May had to take heed of the parliamentary opposition to her plan throughout the UK
He said: “The UK Government's Brexit deal will make Scotland poorer and they must now listen and act on the Scottish Parliament's overwhelming decision to reject it.
"In every area of Scotland there will be businesses, organisations, communities, people and families who will suffer, directly suffer, over a long period of time under this proposed deal.
"The Scottish Parliament came together to say we cannot let this happen, and the UK Government must now respect today's decisive vote."
Labour MSP Neil Findlay, who had accused the Conservatives of unleashing “utter chaos”, said: "MSPs have come together to show their contempt for Theresa May's botched Brexit deal.
"The Tories need to realise their plan is bad for Scotland and the rest the UK, bad for jobs and industries and bad for our communities.
"We believe this plan will be rejected in the Commons. The Tories should then make way for a Labour government that can not only negotiate a Brexit deal that protects jobs, rights and our economy, but transforms society so it works for the many, not the few."
Throughout the debate, the Tories challenged other parties to identify what they would do instead, and warned the alternative laid down in law to Mrs May’s deal was No Deal.
Tory MSP Adam Tomkins said suggestions of a People’s Vote, a general election, staying in the single market and customs union, or being like Norway, were “just noise”.
Refusing to take interventions amidst rowdy scenes, he said: "The motion says that we want “a better alternative” without giving any clue as to what that alternative might be or how it could possibly be delivered. So let us face facts.
“As things stand, the only credible choice before us is whether we should leave on the basis of the Prime Minister’s negotiated settlement—or something very close to it—or crash out without a deal at all.
"Ever since June 2016, Nicola Sturgeon’s SNP has been trying to weaponise Brexit to suit its own nationalist agenda. The SNP is not interested in Brexit for its own sake; for the SNP, it is just another tool in its endless pursuit of independence.
- READ MORE: SNP MPs will back second Brexit referendum or call for early general election - Mike Russell
"The SNP has hoodwinked Labour and the Liberal Democrats into supporting it in that endeavour. If it turns out that we, the Scottish Conservatives, are alone in standing up for the 1m Scots who voted for [Leave], so be it."
LibDem Tavish Scott said the Scottish Tories were defending the indefensible.
He said: “The Prime Minister’s deal is dead at the hands of her own party, but among its few defenders remain those in the Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party.
“They look like lemmings rushing headlong for the cliff edge, demanding leadership, and I remain staggered at sensible and intelligent Scottish Tories such as Adam Tomkins joining them as they plunge into the abyss.”
Green MSP Ross Greer said a “chaotic, dying Conservative Government” has turned a long-running internal party feud over Europe into “a profound national crisis”.
He said Mrs May’s deal would not deliver “the sunny uplands that the liars of the Leave campaign promised”, but would narrow options for future generations, erode citizens' rights, weaken environmental protections, and damage the economy.
- READ MORE: David Mundell says Nicola Sturgeon could go on post-Brexit trade missions with Theresa May
He said: “The deal is so chronically unappealing that the two Brexit secretaries who were allegedly responsible for it have resigned to vote against it.
“I cannot see how it will be agreed to in the UK Parliament. It is a bad deal for Scotland - bad for our democracy, our economy, our environment, our society, our culture and so much more - and it is a bad deal for every part of the UK.”
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