SNP MSP for Na h-Eileanan an Iar Alasdair Allan has joined with colleagues from across the political parties to oppose Theresa May’s proposed Brexit deal and call for the threat of No-Deal to be taken off the table.

Speaking in the chamber during a Scottish Government debate on EU withdrawal negotiations, MSPs from the SNP, Scottish Labour, Green Party and the Liberal Democrats highlighted the growing support across Scotland for an extension to the Article 50 process to avoid a No-Deal scenario on 29th March.

In a historic move, politicians at the Welsh Assembly joined forces with Holyrood to debate the same motion simultaneously.

Political commentators have said there is currently no prospect of the Prime Minister’s Brexit deal being passed by MPs at Westminster at the second attempt scheduled for 12th March - just 17 days before the UK is set to crash out of the EU.

Speaking during the debate Alasdair Allan said:

“A no deal, which some Brexiteers still talk of as if it can be briskly and harmlessly achieved by gunboat, has consequences across Scotland, not least in my own constituency.

“As much as 24% of the Western Isles workforce are employed in sectors that are considered most exposed to the effects of a No Deal. Analysis from the Chief Economic Advisor to the Scottish Government shows a ‘No Deal’ Brexit would lead to a 10-20% drop in exports; £1bn less investment in 2019, and 10-30% depreciation in the pound.

“Scotland did not vote for Brexit and we should not be dragged out of the EU against our will. Our wishes have been utterly ignored before, during and since the 2016 referendum.

“Brexit is a bid for British isolationism. I look forward to the day when Scotland recalls with relief the moment that she forged her own independent path in Europe and the World.”

Speaking in the debate, Scotland’s First Minister Nicola Sturgeon said:

“No-Deal should be definitively ruled out - and today, from Edinburgh and Cardiff, we demand that it is.

“The deal on the table guarantees more years of uncertainty during which Scotland’s interests will be at the mercy of a vicious, and seemingly never-ending, Tory civil war – one where the extreme Brexiteers are currently in the ascendancy.

“The preferable alternative option, in my view, is now a second EU referendum. After all, nobody voting to leave the EU knew precisely what they were voting for - the leave campaign was deliberately vague, some may say deceitful, about the form Brexit would take.”