Calendar An icon of a desk calendar. Cancel An icon of a circle with a diagonal line across. Caret An icon of a block arrow pointing to the right. Email An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of the Facebook "f" mark. Google An icon of the Google "G" mark. Linked In An icon of the Linked In "in" mark. Logout An icon representing logout. Profile An icon that resembles human head and shoulders. Telephone An icon of a traditional telephone receiver. Tick An icon of a tick mark. Is Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes. Is Not Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes with a diagonal line through it. Pause Icon A two-lined pause icon for stopping interactions. Quote Mark A opening quote mark. Quote Mark A closing quote mark. Arrow An icon of an arrow. Folder An icon of a paper folder. Breaking An icon of an exclamation mark on a circular background. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Caret An icon of a caret arrow. Clock An icon of a clock face. Close An icon of the an X shape. Close Icon An icon used to represent where to interact to collapse or dismiss a component Comment An icon of a speech bubble. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Ellipsis An icon of 3 horizontal dots. Envelope An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Home An icon of a house. Instagram An icon of the Instagram logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. Magnifying Glass An icon of a magnifying glass. Search Icon A magnifying glass icon that is used to represent the function of searching. Menu An icon of 3 horizontal lines. Hamburger Menu Icon An icon used to represent a collapsed menu. Next An icon of an arrow pointing to the right. Notice An explanation mark centred inside a circle. Previous An icon of an arrow pointing to the left. Rating An icon of a star. Tag An icon of a tag. Twitter An icon of the Twitter logo. Video Camera An icon of a video camera shape. Speech Bubble Icon A icon displaying a speech bubble WhatsApp An icon of the WhatsApp logo. Information An icon of an information logo. Plus A mathematical 'plus' symbol. Duration An icon indicating Time. Success Tick An icon of a green tick. Success Tick Timeout An icon of a greyed out success tick. Loading Spinner An icon of a loading spinner. Facebook Messenger An icon of the facebook messenger app logo. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Facebook Messenger An icon of the Twitter app logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. WhatsApp Messenger An icon of the Whatsapp messenger app logo. Email An icon of an mail envelope. Copy link A decentered black square over a white square.

SNP Westminster leader says no-deal Brexit ‘scares the living daylights’ out of him

Ian Blackford
Ian Blackford

SNP Westminster leader Ian Blackford has expressed fears that Theresa May could ignore the will of Parliament and take the UK out of the EU without a Brexit deal next week.

Mr Blackford said the prospect of leaving without an agreement, which could well come to pass in eight days time, “scared the living daylights” out of him.

He warned that in the event of a no-deal, foodbanks across Scotland would struggle to cope with the level of demand.


>> Keep up to date with the latest news with The P&J Politics newsletter


Mr Blackford, speaking to the Press and Journal, said: “It’s extraordinary that we are at this stage and that the prime minister has failed to recognise that neither her deal or no-deal are acceptable and she has failed to engage cross-party to find a way forward out of this.

“No-deal absolutely scares the living daylights out of me, we should not be countenancing no-deal in any circumstances. I cannot comprehend why any government would behave in such an irresponsible manner because that’s what it is.”

He added: “Think about what no-deal means for foodbanks getting supplies from the supermarkets, all of a sudden they are going to be saying we’re not in a position to do that anymore because we’ve got to make sure that we’ve got goods that we can supply to our customers.”

Mr Blackford raised concern that it could well come to pass that if Mrs May’s deal is defeated the government could ignore Parliament’s demand not to leave with no-deal.

He said: “If you look at everything that has gone over the course of the last few months it is difficult to get down to a few sentences, when a government that has been in contempt, when a government is ignoring the instruction it has been given to take no-deal off the table, then these are really quite extraordinary circumstances.”

Pressed on whether preparations for a second independence referendum were being ramped up in light of the latest Brexit developments, he said: “You know the direction of travel on this, I don’t want to preempt what the first minister may say.

“I hope the people of Scotland are watching what is going on in this place because it’s not just what is happening specifically with Brexit, it’s the consequence of what’s happening with Brexit that’s there’s not an effective government.”