Brexit constitutional crisis could be 'good for Scotland', says Alex Salmond

Alex Salmond: Photo credit: David Anderson

Alex Salmond has said a potential “constitutional crisis” caused by the Supreme Court ruling that MSPs must have their say before the UK Government can trigger Article 50 could be an "extremely good thing for Scotland".

The Scottish Government is arguing that the devolved powers in Cardiff, Edinburgh and Belfast should be required to pass a legislative consent motion before the UK Government can proceed and start the clock on leaving the European Union.

Scotland and Northern Ireland both supported remaining inside the EU in June’s referendum, and the SNP has claimed it has a mandate for stopping Scotland leaving.

Salmond, the former SNP leader and now the party’s foreign affairs spokesman, said the Scottish Government would be in an “extremely powerful position” if the Supreme Court ruled in its favour.

He downplayed the idea that the UK Parliament would then simply overrule Holyrood if MSPs voted against triggering Article 50 - but made clear the tensions that could arise between the two governments.

“It would certainly be a constitutional crisis that would have to be resolved,” the MP told the BBC’s Sunday Politics Scotland.  

“It is true that the House of Commons could try to invoke an override clause, but of course you’ve got to remember, the House of Commons, the MPs are more or less lined up in favour of Brexit because of the result of the referendum, but that’s an altogether different thing if you start saying 'we’re going to overturn the legislative consent motion' – or for that matter have a guillotine in constitutional legislation – so the votes change given the question that’s being asked.

“Certainly it would result in a constitutional crisis and that crisis might be an extremely good thing for Scotland because it would put us in an extremely powerful position in terms of securing the interests of Scotland in the negotiations.”

The Supreme Court case opens today, with a ruling expected in January. 

Speaking ahead of a speech to the IPPR in London on Wednesday, Scottish Labour leader Kezia Dugdale said the Conservative's "Brexit gamble" has not paid off and it has reopened the "fresh divides" of the independence referendum in Scotland.

She added: "The Tories – whether Ruth Davidson or Theresa May – cannot for a moment pretend that they have not put the Union at risk, when their party has stoked nationalism in England and, with Brexit, provided Nicola Sturgeon with the excuse she needed to reopen the constitutional debate.

“As we heard first-hand in Alex Salmond’s interview on the BBC's Sunday Politics Scotland, the SNP thrives on ‘constitutional crisis’.

“More than ever, we have two governing parties in Scotland that are out of step with what the majority of people in Scotland want.

“The Tories want Scotland in the UK and out of Europe, and the SNP wants Scotland in the EU, but out of the UK. Continuing to pull our country in each of these directions risks breaking the Union once and for all."