MSPs vote against article 50 trigger

The Scottish Parliament has voted by 90 to 34 for a symbolic motion rejecting the triggering of article 50, the formal start of the Brexit process, because it says the UK government has left too many questions unanswered.

This comes as MPs at Westminster are expected tonight at around 21.00 French time to vote through the two-paragraph Brexit Bill aimed at giving UK Prime Minister Theresa May power to press the trigger.

Within the Scottish Parliament, Labour, Lib Dems and the Scottish Green party all strongly backed the motion by the SNP, which is non-binding on Westminster. Scottish Labour instructed its SMPs to support the motion, despite the opposite position taken by the party’s UK leader, Jeremy Corbyn, who has told MPs in Westminster to back the Brexit Bill.

Three Labour MSPs voted with Scottish Conservatives against the motion, which said the UK government had failed to properly consult the devolved authorities on the UK’s position on Brexit.

Last month the Supreme Court in London said Scotland’s consent was not required to trigger article 50, however Scottish First Minister Nicola Sturgeon said she wanted to give the MSPs a vote on article 50 anyway.

The motion, lodged by the Scottish government’s Brexit Minister, Michael Russell, also said the UK government had failed to guarantee the position of EU nationals in the UK or give clarity on implications of its intention to withdraw from the single market.

What is more, it said the decision to trigger does not respect the fact that every council area in Scotland voted to remain.

Speaking to the Scottish Parliament, Mr Russell said the motion vote allowed the parliament “to say to the UK, to Europe and to the world that we oppose the catastrophic hard Brexit now being pursued by the Tories at Westminster”.

He added that it was “a key test of whether Scotland’s voice is being listened to”.

Mr Russell said Scotland had proposed a compromise allowing the nation to remain in the single market even if the rest of the UK left, but the UK government had not responded to that move.

Following the motion vote, Mr Russell said Scotland was about to enter further talks with the UK and they would “go on talking so that the article 50 letter [to the Council of the EU, triggering the UK’s exit] can still be influenced by the reasonable demands of Scotland”. He said: “Scotland will never, ever turn our backs on Europe.”

A survey by BMG for Scottish newspaper The Herald found 49% of Scottish people now support independence from the UK, with 51% against, after “don’t knows” were removed. A similar one last month had showed 45.5% in favour and 54.5% against.

This came after UK Prime Minister Theresa May said the UK would seek to leave the European single market after Brexit.

So far all attempts in the House of Commons to add amendments to the Brexit Bill have failed. It will pass on to the House of Lords after the MPs vote.