Conservatives
using Brexit as 'licence for xenophobia', Nicola Sturgeon warns
SNP
leader calls Tory government 'deeply ugly'
Catriona Webster
Nicola Sturgeon is
to launch an attack on the Conservative Government, claiming it is
using Brexit as a "licence for xenophobia", as the SNP's
biggest-ever conference begins.
The vote to leave
the EU and its implications for Scotland are set to dominate
proceedings as 3,000 delegates gather for the event at the SECC in
Glasgow.
The SNP leader and
First Minister will open the autumn conference with a speech setting
out her party's response to Brexit and contrasting it with the vision
of the Westminster Tory Government, which she last week branded
"deeply ugly".
It's ironic and
outrageous that the Brexiteers who talked about 'power for the
people' don't want Parliament to have a say
After Brexit, our
tabloid newspapers are taking political intolerance to a chilling new
extreme
She will also tell
members that SNP MPs will vote against legislation to repeal EU laws,
and will work in coalition with other parties against a "hard
Brexit" in which the UK would leave the European single market.
Her comments
followed speeches from Prime Minister Theresa May and Home Secretary
Amber Rudd at the UK Tory Party conference in Birmingham last week,
during which plans for an immigration crackdown were announced,
including proposals for firms to have to list foreign workers.
Ms Sturgeon will
also be under pressure to provide delegates with an update on the
possibility of a second independence referendum in the wake of the
vote to leave the EU - amid calls from opponents to take so-called
indyref2 off the table.
She is expected to
say: "Last week, we heard an intolerance towards those from
other countries that has no place in a modern, multicultural,
civilised society.
"It was a
disgrace. It shames the Tory Party and all who speak for it.
"But make no
mistake - the right wing of the Tory Party is now in the ascendancy
and it is seeking to hijack the referendum result. Brexit has become
Tory Brexit.
"They are using
it as licence for the xenophobia that has long lain under the surface
- but which is now in full view.
"They are
holding it up as cover for a hard Brexit that they have no mandate
for - but which they are determined to impose, regardless of the
ruinous consequences.
"I suspect that
many of those who voted to Leave now look at the actions and rhetoric
of the Tories and think 'that's not what I voted for'.
"They may have
voted to take back control – but I don't imagine many of them are
happy to have handed that control to Boris Johnson, David Davis and
Liam Fox.
"They certainly
didn't vote to throw economic rationality out of the window. They
didn't vote to lower their own living standards or to sacrifice jobs
and investment. They didn't vote for our businesses to face tariffs
or for holiday-makers to need visas. They didn't vote for the
scapegoating of foreigners."
On the proposed
Great Repeal Bill to end the authority of EU laws in the UK, she will
add: "Scotland didn't vote for that and so neither will our MPs.
"But we will
also work to persuade others - Labour, Liberals and moderate Tories -
to join us in a coalition against a hard Brexit: not just for
Scotland, but for the whole UK."
The conference will
begin with the announcement of the SNP's new depute leader in a
four-way race between MPs Angus Robertson and Tommy Sheppard, MEP
Alyn Smith and Inverclyde
councillor Chris
McEleny.
Resolutions to be
debated over the three-day conference include one from the Ayr North
branch of the SNP on the legalisation of cannabis for medicinal use.
Meanwhile, the First
Minister's speech on Saturday will set out a series of new priorities
for the Scottish Government on health, education and the economy.
Opposition parties
said Ms Sturgeon should use the conference to abandon talk of a
second independence referendum.
Scottish
Conservative chief whip John Lamont said: "Scotland has spoken
on independence. This week, the First Minister must show she has
listened.
"It's deeply
disappointing that instead of setting out a constructive plan on how
she intends to manage the Brexit process, Nicola Sturgeon is intent
on using her party conference to play to the SNP gallery.
"Cheap
rabble-rousing in front of the party faithful won't obscure the First
Minister's failure to speak for the majority of Scots - by taking her
threat of a second referendum off the table."
Liberal Democrat MP
Alistair Carmichael said: "The First Minister aspires to be a
major player on the UK political scene. But her drive for a second
independence poll is not only letting Scotland down.
"It is also
letting down people in places like Manchester, Belfast and Cardiff
who recognise the importance of maintaining our European ties.
"If the First
Minister is serious about making progress on Europe then she needs to
use this opportunity to listen to reason and say in no uncertain
terms that independence is off the table."
Scottish Labour
leader Kezia Dugdale accused Ms Sturgeon and the SNP of breaking
promises that the 2014 independence referendum result would stand for
a "generation" and was a "once in a lifetime
opportunity".
She said: "That
is why Scottish Labour will vote against any proposal for another
referendum. There have been far too many broken promises from the SNP
over the past decade; Nicola Sturgeon should not break her promise on
a second independence referendum.
"Scotland needs
a government that has answers for the future. Not one that plays a
broken record and claims that independence - an argument of the past
- is an answer for the challenges of tomorrow."
Press Association
Scotland
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