Stephen Gethins MP: All the promises of the Brexiteers have turned to dust… The Emperor doesn’t have a stitch on

Amid the froth and noise in Westminster this week, it has been a good few days for those of us seeking to find a way out of the Brexit mess.

Over recent months MPs from different parties have sought to put aside our differences and find a way of blocking Boris Johnson’s plans to take the UK out of the EU without a deal or any sort of plan for what comes next.

That is why a few of us have worked together to draft the obscurely named European Union (Withdrawal) (No. 6) Bill. In short, that takes No Deal off the table and prevents a cliff-edge Brexit at Hallowe’en.

On Friday afternoon the Bill passed the House of Lords and is set for Royal Assent.

That makes this coming week critical. We have been warned of the devastating impact of a No Deal Brexit. Doctors warn of medicine shortages, police officers warn of unrest and businesses warn of job losses.

Even Boris Johnson has stopped arguing that leaving the EU is a good idea.

The promises of the Brexit campaign have come to nothing, the Emperor has no clothes.

The Prime Minister never did have a plan for Brexit. Since taking office he has come up with nothing and has rather settled on bluff and bluster, much as he did throughout the EU referendum and since.

His latest decoy is to call for an immediate General Election. At a time when he should be negotiating with our European partners he wants to start campaigning again. We always knew that the claimed negotiations were a sham, nothing is happening, but covering them up with campaign photo opportunities is just a blatant attempt to detract attention from his own failure.

The SNP’s top priority is stopping No Deal and then a General Election to get rid of this dangerous and damaging Tory government. Until we know that has been secured it would be irresponsible to dissolve Parliament.

Doing so would leave us open to the sort of trickery and sleight of hand that has characterised the Prime Minister’s career. He cannot be trusted.

An early General Election is coming. It is a matter of if, not when. In that election we will put our opposition to Brexit and Scotland’s right to choose its own future at the heart of it.

We relish that contest and support for the SNP is growing. However, we will not put short term political advantage before the national interest. Taking No Deal off the Table is critical and we will not vote for a General Election until we can be sure that has happened.

The likes of Boris Johnson and Jacob Rees-Mogg, who got us in this mess and had no plan how to get us out of it, might be okay but we know that others will not be so lucky.

These Brexiteers are among the most grossly irresponsible and negligent politicians ever to have held the office of Prime Minister or Leader of the House for that matter.

We are now in a situation whereby these politicians are threatening to not even respect the rule of law. That’s tin-pot dictator territory.