IT has been another couple of nightmare weeks for Prime Minister Theresa May and her Government. The Government’s biggest policy initiatives – or headaches as they have grown to be – are Brexit and Universal Credit and both are being so spectacularly mismanaged that, if they were not hurting the worst off in society so directly – you would have to laugh.
Many of you will go through the same thought process that I go through every single time there is a new development with Brexit. It goes something like: “No, surely not”, to “I cannot believe these people are in charge of the country during one of the biggest constitutional changes we will ever live through” to “this has to be the thing that makes them see sense and stop this nonsense”.
READ MORE: Nicola Sturgeon warns Brexit will put Scotland at a 'disadvantage' to Northern Ireland
And repeat with every breaking news alert.
I thought it when David Cameron resigned after losing the referendum, I thought it when Theresa May stood at a podium last January and lectured the EU on why they are awful but should also treat the UK with incredible reverence during the negotiations. I’ve thought it after the countless cabinet resignations, and I thought it when the Prime Minister was humiliated in Salzburg.
I went through those same thoughts again this week when the Chancellor of the Exchequer admitted that Brexit will make us poorer, shortly before the Governor of the Bank of England, Mark Carney announced the same thing. The Bank of England went further than the Chancellor, however, probably because they aren’t trying to keep the Prime Minister in power, and admitted that under the Prime Minister’s deal, under no deal, and under any situation other than remaining in the EU, the UK would be much poorer.
READ MORE: SNP steps up attack on BBC over televised Brexit-deal debate
These announcements did not surprise anyone, however, because we can all see, even with the briefest of glances, that leaving the single market and customs union, will have a huge detrimental impact on the economy.
Despite all this, the Prime Minister continues to insist that her deal is the only solution to the Brexit problem her party created.
For people in Scotland, we have the lifeboat of independence, but saving that, there is also the option of taking the decision back to the people of the UK with a People’s Vote with assurances that the Scottish result will be respected.
Instead of following that path the Prime Minister decided to hold a bunch of closed off, invitation only, heavily choreographed events across the UK and call it a tour to sell her deal to the people.
The National, quite rightly, haven’t covered the Prime Ministers visit to Scotland (and in fantastic fashion, I should add), but given that her office emailed me and advised that she was coming to my constituency, I think I need to mention it.
About an hour, maybe two, before she arrived at Glasgow Airport (which is in Gavin Newlands constituency), I received an email advising me that the Prime Minister will be attending an event in my constituency, Paisley and Renfrewshire South. The Prime Minister never appeared however, and just as the ink was drying on the missing posters, it turned out she was in Bridge of Weir which is a lovely village in Renfrewshire, but not in my constituency.
Bridge of Weir is actually in Paisley and Renfrewshire North, where my SNP colleague Gavin Newlands is the MP. It is also worth noting that Glasgow airport is also in Gavin’s constituency.
I assumed the Prime Minister must also be making another stop later in the day within my constituency, but it seems she left Renfrewshire rather sharply.
It is astounding to me that this Prime Minister was not aware that Renfrewshire has two constituencies, with two MPs. Then again, this is the same Prime Minister who cannot answer a question from SNP Westminster Leader Ian Blackford without immediately dismissing the question, and instead choosing to go into automatic bot mode, repeating her empty mantra’s about how precious the United Kingdom is.
The Prime Minister is going to try and take this rotten deal all the way, with a vote in the House of Commons, set to take place on December 11. I can assure you I will not be voting for the deal and will instead be voting for the cross-party amendment submitted by Hilary Benn, which will stop the Prime Minister’s deal and reject a no deal Brexit.
If the Prime Minister’s deal doesn’t get through Parliament, it is anybody’s guess what happens next. But that is not reason enough for me to vote for a deal that will leave Scotland at an unjust disadvantage.
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Callum Baird, Editor of The National
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