There shall be a Scottish Parliament
When Donald Dewar opened Holyrood he said
there shall be Scottish a Parliament.
According to Michael Russell, the Minister for UK Negotiations on Scotland’s Place in Europe, it was Dewar’s vision that the Scottish Parliament yesterday voted to protect. Every party at Holyrood, except for the Tories stood up and rebuffed the EU(Withdrawal) Bill. They did so because the bill, in its current form, threatens the devolution settlement by riding roughshod over its founding principles.
Scottish Secretary David Mundell has today made some patronising remarks about the decision Holyrood made. Suggesting that Scottish Parliamentarians didn’t properly understand what they were doing. He clearly never saw Michael Russell’s speech yesterday. In it, Russell cogently outlines the problems with the bill, the gravity of what it puts at stake and he details why Holyrood was correct not to roll over to Westminster bullying.
Yesterday’s decision was all about protecting the Scottish Parliament and honouring the ideas of its founding members. Which is perhaps why every party except for the Tories abandoned petty political bickering and chose to save the institution that represents the Scottish people.