Scottish Conservatives (Devolved Powers)

– in the Scottish Parliament at on 18 January 2018.

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Photo of Ivan McKee Ivan McKee Scottish National Party

After last year’s general election, we heard great boasts from Ruth Davidson that her troop of Scottish Tory MPs would fight for Scotland’s interests and more powers for Holyrood. Does the First Minister think that we have seen much evidence of that this week?

Photo of Nicola Sturgeon Nicola Sturgeon Scottish National Party

No. As I said earlier, we are still trying to locate a backbone among the group of Scottish Tory MPs.

Presiding Officer, this is a very serious issue. We know, from the report that the Finance and Constitution Committee published that, across this chamber, members of the Scottish Parliament of all parties think that the European Union (Withdrawal) Bill, in its current form, represents a power grab on this Parliament. Yet, when the Labour Party lodged an amendment in the House of Commons this week to help to rectify that, instead of supporting it, the Scottish Tory group voted with the Government and against the interests of Scotland. In fact—perhaps with the exception of one measly abstention somewhere along the line—there has not been a single occasion on which any of the Scottish Tory MPs has voted in the interests of Scotland and against the Westminster Government.