Eight MSPs vote against staying in the EU

MSPs voted overwhelmingly to support remaining in the European Union in a Scottish Parliament debate yesterday.

However, seven Conservative MSPs – Maurice Corry, Gordon Lindhurst, Margaret Mitchell, Oliver Mundell, Graham Simpson, Alexander Stewart and Ross Thomson – as well as Labour’s Elaine Smith voted against the motion, although it has been reported that Maurice Corry pressed the wrong button and did not intend to vote against the motion.

Three other MSPs abstained from the vote: Labour’s Neil Findlay and Conservatives Jamie Greene, Jamie and Alison Harris.

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Conservative deputy leader Jackson Carlaw said although all the parties in the Scottish Parliament were in favour of remaining, he was “advocating a personal opinion” when he spoke for staying in.

Carlaw gave a passionate speech in favour of the EU, saying he would be “voting for a future that I think is the right one for my sons and for the grandchildren I hope yet to see.”

He said: “I thought that, while the Scottish referendum was a referendum that engaged the heads and the hearts of people in this country, the arguments in the European referendum would be much more nuanced—that they would be technical and devoid of emotion.

“Yet, as the vote approaches, I find that I care far more about the outcome than I ever thought I would.”

Scottish Labour leader Kezia Dugdale also spoke in favour of staying in, saying: “Labour is Scotland’s internationalist party. We believe in solidarity beyond borders. We believe that sharing sovereignty makes us all stronger, wealthier and safer.”

She said Labour would campaign enthusiastically for the country’s place in the European Union.

Speaking against the motion, Conservative MSP Graham Simpson used his maiden speech to put forward the case for leaving the EU: “The EU is nothing but a political project. It is a first-class-only gravy train with no stops, where the buffet car serves only the finest food, never mind the cost, and it is one way—to ever-closer union.

“We have the chance to pull the emergency cord and jump off, to set ourselves on another, freer course, able to spend the fare money—£350 million a week—on whatever we like.

“Leaving would hand this Parliament powers over, for example, agriculture and fisheries. Why would anyone in this chamber not want that?”

Elaine Smith put forward a Labour Eurosceptic case: “I have been listening to the wider EU debate, and one of its worst aspects is the way in which it is dominated by the right—often with racist undertones. It is important that a legitimate left-wing case for leaving is voiced in the debate,” she said.

“The key argument of the official stay campaign—I should say that I am not part of any official campaign—seems to be that things can only get worse if we leave, but that argument ignores the role that the EU has played in intensifying austerity and reactionary politics.

“I am not convinced that the best route involves being part of an undemocratic superstate, with mass unemployment, falling living standards and growing inequality.”

Neil Findlay did not speak but intervened on a number of occasions, appearing to challenge those in favour of staying in.