NEWLANDS CHALLENGES THE PRIME MINISTER ON SOCIAL COHESION CLAIMS

TORIES ‘DIVIDING SOCIETY’ WITH CRUEL POLICIES

Gavin Newlands, SNP MP for Paisley and Renfrewshire North, challenged the Prime Minister following her Brexit statement on Monday night. This follows the Prime Minister’s claims that another EU Referendum to break the parliamentary deadlock on Brexit would ‘undermine social cohesion’.

Newlands stated that another act of democracy wouldn’t undermine social cohesion, but instead insisted that the Tory’s cruel policies had been doing this for a long time. The MP took shots at policies like austerity, the benefits freeze, the two child cap, and the rape clause, that the Tories have implemented whilst cutting taxes for the richest in society.

The Prime Minister made excuses for the damage the Tories have done to society by blaming Labour Government’s that have been out of power for almost a decade and she attempted to make excuses for her position by taking aim at the Scottish Government’s tax regime- despite the fact that most tax payers in Scotland pay less than those south of the border.

Commenting, Newlands said:

“We currently have parliamentary deadlock as there is no Brexit arrangement that can get past MPs, article 50 must be extended to avoid a disastrous no-deal Brexit and the Prime Minister must consider a second EU referendum as polls clearly show that a remain vote is likely.

“Leaving with No-Deal would devastate the economy, which would ultimately harm social cohesion even further; especially as the UK Government is forcing three million EU Citizens who already live here to register to stay.

“In Scotland, the SNP do all we can with the powers we have to build an inclusive country with social cohesion at its heart. But we are still subject to cruel policies from the Tory Government in Westminster, and they are ripping us out of the EU with no plans to compromise or go back to their voters.

“Only with independence will we build a truly cohesive Scotland.”