KENNY MacAskill, one of the Alba MP’s who was on Wednesday removed from the House of Commons for staging an independence protest at the start of PMQ's has stated that the speaker Lindsay Hoyle should have “been dealing with the Prime Minister” instead.
Speaking on BBC’s Good Morning Scotland programme, MacAskill said that Boris Johnson was not only “denying Scottish democracy”, but was “distorting parliamentary procedure” by refusing opposition Labour leader Keir Starmer’s motion of no confidence.
“That should be heard before everything else”, said MacAskill. “Yet it’s been kicked aside because we have a prime minister who is deciding when he’s going to go, and who he’s going to pass over is going to be chosen by a handful of Tory MP’s and then a very small amount of Tory party members to be foisted upon Scotland.”
On Tuesday, Starmer tabled a no confidence motion in Boris Johnson’s government. This would have triggered a Commons-wide referendum on the suitability of Johnson continuing in his role until autumn, and would have allowed MPs from across all parties to have their say.
It is expected that when a motion of no confidence is proposed by the leader of the Opposition, that time will be made on the Commons agenda for this to be heard. However, in a move described as “unprecedented” and an “abuse of power” by many, Johnson blocked the bid from taking place.
Elsewhere, MacAskill highlighted the links between this incident and what he described as the “denial of Scottish democracy”, stating that he was opposed to a new Tory prime minister being “foisted upon Scotland”.
He said: “Why is it that a minority of Tories are able to choose the next prime minister, and yet the whole democracy and people of Scotland cannot choose their constitutional future?
“All of this at a time when Scotland has never been energy richer, and yet we face over half of our people unable to heat their own home.”
First Minster Nicola Sturgeon described the protest as "gesture politics", when asked for her reaction to the Alba MPs’ showing as she unveiled her paper on the democratic deficit in Scotland.
“I didn’t pay that much attention to it, so I’m not going to focus on that,” she told journalists at Bute House.
“Protest always has a place, SNP MPs and Ian Blackford was ejected from the House of Commons not that long ago.
“I can understand – I’ve never been a member of the House of Commons as you know – but I can understand for Scottish MPs how deeply frustrating that environment must be. But I’m focused on not protest, I’m focused on giving Scotland a path to choosing independence and that is much more important.
“I’m the First Minister, my job is not to indulge in gesture politics, my job is to find ways forward on this and other issues.”
On Wednesday, House of Commons speaker Lindsay Hoyle grew furious with ALBA MP’s Kenny MacAskill and Neale Hanvey, who are both formerly SNP representatives, as they refused to sit down and stop speaking at the beginning of the session.
East Lothian MP and former justice secretary MacAskill could be heard saying: “We need a referendum.”
Hoyle said he would not tolerate their behaviour, and as they kept going he told the serjeant-at-arms to escort them out of the Chamber.
They have now been suspended for five sitting days.
The pair also sent a letter to Prime Minister Boris Johnson expressing their anger over his rejection of a Section 30 order, which came as his government fell apart last week.
