Newington's Victoria McNish looks ahead to the next fortnight in Westminster and Scotland, and the issues we can expect to dominate the political agenda.
May’s Article 50 deadline approaches
As the Prime Minister’s Brexit deadline of 31 March rapidly approaches, the Government’s European Union (Notification of Withdrawal) Bill 2016-17 has now completed is passage through the House of Lords. However, the process does not end there as the Government experienced two defeats on its draft bill in the Lords, as Peers voted in favour of an amendment to guarantee the rights of EU nationals living in the UK after Brexit, and on an amendment to give Parliament a "meaningful vote" on the final deal negotiated by ministers. Despite passing through the House of Commons unamended, the defeats in the Lords will see the Bill once again return to the Commons. Nevertheless, it is unlikely that the Government will give way, and it is expected that any amendments will be overturned by MPs. Over the next fortnight it will become clear whether the Bill will gain Royal Assent by 15 March, as speculated by the press, or be delayed by Parliamentary ping-pong – all of which cast doubt over whether Theresa May will be able to meet her deadline for triggering Article 50.
SNP considers future policies at Spring Conference
The SNP will get together to discuss its future policy visions at its Spring Conference next week, where the issues of education, health, and not surprisingly, a second Scottish referendum, are all on the agenda. Following the overwhelming majority result in Scotland to remain in the EU, Nicola Sturgeon has been arguing that a second Scottish referendum is not only “likely” but “inevitable”. The growing feeling in Holyrood is that Westminster is not protecting their interests, exacerbated by the Prime Minister having rejected Holyrood’s calls for a special deal for Scotland in the Brexit negotiations. It will be interesting to see if Sturgeon uses the conference to set out plans to introduce a second referendum bill, and if she will further press Westminster for the legal authority to do so.
