Sturgeon ‘has GIVEN UP on stopping Article 50 being triggered in Westminster’, Tories say

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Sturgeon has effectively given up on stopping Westminster from triggering Article 50, Lamont said

The leading Tory whip said that by not telling Holyrood politicians how to vote, the SNP leader has finally given up and realised that Brexit is a matter for Westminster and not the devolved nations.

Sturgeon said the vote at Holyrood was one of the most important in the Parliament’s history – yet the Tories claimed she backed away from a previous promise to implement a legislative consent motion (LCM) – the formal device used by Scots to give permission to Westminster to devolved areas.

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John Lamont said Sturgeon was trying to 'manufacture grievance out of nothing'

John Lamont, the Tories chief whip in the Scottish Parliament, said the First Minister had backed down on her previous threats of trying to block Article 50 and claimed she was attempting to “manufacture grievance out of nothing”.

He added he “somewhat surprised” that SNP Brexit Minister Mike Russell had not published a LCM – despite “[promising] us all he would publish one” less than two weeks ago.

The Conservative MSP for Ettrick, Roxburgh and Berwickshire said: "Could it be that the Brexit Minister was wrong? And in fact my colleague Professor Adam Tomkins was correct in saying that the process for triggering Article 50 is a reserved matter?

Blair and Juncker: Together through the years Wed, January 25, 2017

Former Prime Minister, Tony Blair and President of the European Commission, Jean-Claude Juncker have always shared a friendly relationship over the years.

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EU Commission President Juncker greets former British PM Blair in Brussels

"Could it be that the Scottish Government haven't submitted an LCM because they know it's out with the competence of this Parliament, despite all their grandstanding the other week?

“This is an important point because it shows the Scottish Government's default position is to try to manufacture a grievance out of nothing.”

Sturgeon’s nationalists and a gaggle of other anti-Brexit MSPs are likely to comfortably win a vote which opposes leaving the EU, which is expected to be used as fuel to bolster their plight for another Scottish independence referendum.

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Kezia Dugdale is expected to defy Corbyn's demands to back the Government demands

She added the symbolic debate in Edinburgh was a “chance for our national parliament to reaffirm the voice of the people of Scotland” and show that Scots “oppose the catastrophic hard Brexit now being pursued by the Tories at Westminster”, according to the Telegraph.

Kezia Dugdale, Scottish Labour’s leader in Holyrood, announced her MSPs are expected to defy Corbyn’s demand to vote in favour of triggering Article 50. The defiance by Dugdale is just the latest in a series of Labour rifts.

Despite the anticipated puerile show of defiance from Scottish Remoaners, the House of Commons voted 489 to 114 to allow the Government to begin formal Brexit negotiations.

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