A senior Labour MP has described Nicola Sturgeon’s independence strategy as a distraction amounting to an “illegal referendum in Scotland”.
Shadow Commons leader Thangam Debbonaire said the Conservatives and SNP had “striking similarities” in campaigning on “wedge issues” to divert attention from real problems facing voters.
She told MPs: “The First Minister gave the game away in her statement to the Scottish Parliament. It seems it wasn’t about a referendum, it was about the next general election.”
READ MORE: Confusion over SNP independence strategy
Debbonaire added:“Nicola Sturgeon seems to be happy for the 700,000 people on an NHS waiting list in Scotland to take a back seat while constitutional debates take precedence for the SNP.”
Speaking at Business Questions in the Commons, Debbonaire drew jeers from SNP MPs when she added: “But I notice the striking similarities with the Conservative Westminster government who want to make the next election all about cultural wedge issues.
“The best way to protect and strengthen the UK is clearly a Labour government that delivers for every nation and region of our country.
“The SNP has no greater asset in their attempt to break up the UK than the Prime Minister. Does the Leader really think that propping up this failed Prime Minister is helping the Union?”
The SNP’s Pete Wishart said the Commons sorely needed “a debate about democracy” and why legally imprison a nation in what is supposed to be a voluntary Union of equals. We need to figure out why this government seems to believe that somehow democracy can be put in some sort of Tory deep freeze, where people aren’t allowed to change their minds and where parliamentary majorities don’t seem to matter.”
Conservative Leader of the House Mark Spenser MP joined in the accusations of distraction and described Wishart as a “master of smoke and mirrors”.
Spenser said: “He wants to talk about this issue because he doesn’t want people to focus on the disastrous education system in Scotland, the debacle of the Scottish ferries. He wants to put ideology in front of the needs of the Scottish people.”
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