The UK’s new-look parliament took shape yesterday as the army of SNP MPs gathered to claim their place as the third-biggest party in the House of Commons.
The Nationalists relegated many Labour veterans and the handful of remaining Liberal Democrats to the back-benches as members convened for the first time since the election.
Angus Robertson, the Moray MP and SNP leader at Westminster, was called to speak after Prime Minister David Cameron and acting Labour leader Harriet Harman following the unanimous re-election of John Bercow as speaker.
Underlining the new political order, Mr Robertson said: “We represent 56 of Scotland’s 59 constituencies, we are now the third party in this House and we look forward to making Scotland’s voice heard.
“We will have our voice heard and we will play a full and fair part in the proceedings of this House of Commons.
“We still, however, support the fair treatment of small parties – small parties like the Liberal Democrats and the Green Party and the other really small parties, who only have one member, like the Scottish Conservative Party, the Scottish Labour Party and the Scottish Liberal Democrats.”
Mr Cameron, speaking in the Commons for the first time since securing his second term as prime minister, said he hoped the nations of the UK would “unite”.
“I have that said this will be a one nation government. I know we have our differences across the House, but I hope this will also be a one nation parliament,” the Conservative leader said.
“I hope and believe that we can bring the countries of our United Kingdom together, implementing the devolution agreed for Wales and Northern Ireland; creating in Scotland the strongest devolved government anywhere in the world; and delivering a constitutional settlement that offers real fairness to England, too.”
Ms Harman congratulated Mr Cameron on being returned to 10 Downing Street, noting Labour had an important role to be “fearless and effective” in opposition.
She advised new MPs that they were on an equal footing with their more experienced colleagues, telling them they were not juniors or apprentices “but the real thing”.
Welcoming Speaker Bercow’s re-election for the Liberal Democrats, Orkney and Shetland MP Alistair Carmichael said: “I confess that when I served as government deputy chief whip in the last parliament, the relationship with the speaker was, obviously, not always an easy one, but it was always professional and courteous.
“And, if I may say so, as an opposition back-bencher I find the qualities that you exhibited which occasionally caused me difficulty on the Treasury bench much more attractive now.”