Surge in SNP membership after mass MP walkout

Commons protest branded ‘pre-prepared’
stunt by opponents

One-Minute Read

A party source told Sky News the surge in applications, which
normally arrive at a rate of between 50 and 100 a day, was driven
by a desire to unite against a “bazen power grab” by the
Conservatives on Brexit.

All 35 SNP MPs walked out of the Commons chamber when their
Westminster leader, Ian Blackford, was kicked out by the speaker
during Prime Minister’s Questions. Blackford was protesting
against the decision to give MPs only an hour to consider more than
50 amendments to the Brexit bill on devolution.

SNP MPs were “furious”, says the BBC, after amendments affecting Scotland were
passed after less than 20 minutes of debate the previous
evening.

The passage of the amendments concerning devolution “were the
first time that Westminster has over-ruled the Scottish
Parliament”, reports The Scotsman.

Opponents branded the walkout a “pre-prepared stunt” aimed only
at furthering the cause of independence, but Blackford has insisted
the SNP will continue to “frustrate what the government are doing
as much as we possibly can”. It is “not the end of the matter, it
is the beginning”, he said.

Holyrood raised the prospect of a constitutional crisis last month when
Scottish lawmakers refused to grant formal consent the EU
Withdrawal Bill, the government’s primary piece of Brexit
legislation.

The SNP, Greens, Labour and Lib Dems oppose plans for some
powers that currently reside in Brussels to be returned to
Westminster after Britain leaves the EU, rather than to
Edinburgh.

Speaking in the Scottish Parliament, Nicola Sturgeon argued that
this week’s events had been “the most clear and powerful evidence
so far that the Westminster system simply does not work for
Scotland”.