SNP in its ‘final death throes’, says Mordaunt

It is clear to everyone that the SNP is in its “final death throes”, Commons Leader Penny Mordaunt has claimed, as she urged the party to prepare for a unionist government in Scotland.

Meanwhile, SNP Commons leader Deirdre Brock called on Ms Mordaunt to distance herself from Rishi Sunak’s “offensive outburst” earlier this week, in which she claimed the Prime Minister had associated the Scottish Government with extremists.

In response, Ms Mordaunt jibed that Ms Brock could fill in one of Police Scotland’s hate crime reporting forms.

On Monday, Mr Sunak said Scottish nationalists are “trying to tear our United Kingdom apart” in a Policy Exchange speech, and he has since denied the SNP’s accusations about his comments.

At business questions on Thursday, Ms Brock said: “Can we have a debate in Government time on the careful use of words in politics?

“The Prime Minister has refused to apologise for his offensive outburst on Monday, he quite deliberately associated the Scottish Government with Hamas terrorists, North Korea, and the Iranian Revolutionary Guard.

“The good folk of Edinburgh North and Leith (Brock’s constituency) have elected a dangerous extremist, who knew? And the vast majority of MPs from Scotland who also want independence, them too. All along, we thought we were democratically elected members of this House, just like her.

“You’d think the Conservatives of Brexit Britain would respect a nation’s right to self-determination as a perfectly honourable political position, but is it just Scotland’s they don’t respect?”

During the weekly back and forth, she added: “An unknown number of convicted prisoners let loose around England, the Home Office losing thousands of migrants under their watch, and an English courts and justice system on the verge of collapse.

“But what’s on the Prime Minister’s new hate list? What keeps Tories awake at night with fear? People like me apparently, how laughable.

“Can (Ms Mordaunt) confirm if she believes the Prime Minister was right to associate Scottish democrats with those Hamas terrorists and the Iranian Revolutionary Guard? Or will she take this opportunity to distance herself from this laughably desperate baloney?”

Responding, Ms Mordaunt confirmed Ms Brock “does not keep me awake at night”.

She continued: “I think that the SNP’s time would be better spent not trying to re-fight past referendums of all types, but more focused on the issues today, for example the housing emergency that has just been declared in Scotland due to their rent control policy.

“She raises the very serious matter of the Prime Minister’s language and I understand that thanks to the Scottish Government, you can now fill in a hate report form.

“So if (Ms Brock) has any concerns, she can just fill in a report, and pile more work on to her hard-pushed police officers.

“With regard to plans to put a nuclear power station in Scotland, it is I think sensible to plan for a unionist party to be in government in Scotland, given the timescales involved in nuclear construction… I think it is a sensible and pragmatic thing to do.

“It is very clear to everyone except the SNP that their party is in their final death throes.

“I predict that the tragic finale of that when the SNP finally do completely implode and meet their end, is that there will still be no ferry to carry them across the sticks.”