Calendar An icon of a desk calendar. Cancel An icon of a circle with a diagonal line across. Caret An icon of a block arrow pointing to the right. Email An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of the Facebook "f" mark. Google An icon of the Google "G" mark. Linked In An icon of the Linked In "in" mark. Logout An icon representing logout. Profile An icon that resembles human head and shoulders. Telephone An icon of a traditional telephone receiver. Tick An icon of a tick mark. Is Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes. Is Not Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes with a diagonal line through it. Pause Icon A two-lined pause icon for stopping interactions. Quote Mark A opening quote mark. Quote Mark A closing quote mark. Arrow An icon of an arrow. Folder An icon of a paper folder. Breaking An icon of an exclamation mark on a circular background. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Caret An icon of a caret arrow. Clock An icon of a clock face. Close An icon of the an X shape. Close Icon An icon used to represent where to interact to collapse or dismiss a component Comment An icon of a speech bubble. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Ellipsis An icon of 3 horizontal dots. Envelope An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Home An icon of a house. Instagram An icon of the Instagram logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. Magnifying Glass An icon of a magnifying glass. Search Icon A magnifying glass icon that is used to represent the function of searching. Menu An icon of 3 horizontal lines. Hamburger Menu Icon An icon used to represent a collapsed menu. Next An icon of an arrow pointing to the right. Notice An explanation mark centred inside a circle. Previous An icon of an arrow pointing to the left. Rating An icon of a star. Tag An icon of a tag. Twitter An icon of the Twitter logo. Video Camera An icon of a video camera shape. Speech Bubble Icon A icon displaying a speech bubble WhatsApp An icon of the WhatsApp logo. Information An icon of an information logo. Plus A mathematical 'plus' symbol. Duration An icon indicating Time. Success Tick An icon of a green tick. Success Tick Timeout An icon of a greyed out success tick. Loading Spinner An icon of a loading spinner. Facebook Messenger An icon of the facebook messenger app logo. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Facebook Messenger An icon of the Twitter app logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. WhatsApp Messenger An icon of the Whatsapp messenger app logo. Email An icon of an mail envelope. Copy link A decentered black square over a white square.

John Swinney: UK faces winter of discontent due to Brexit

© PAJohn Swinney.
John Swinney.

The UK is facing a “winter of discontent” after the Tories pushed ahead with Brexit, taking Britain out of the European Union, Scotland’s deputy first minister has warned.

With supermarkets having already experienced issues with shortages, he argued that such problems show how “Westminster isn’t working”.

Swinney used his speech to the SNP national conference yesterday to hit out at the “muscular unionism” of Boris Johnson’s Conservative government. He went on to add that the prime minister and his colleagues simply “do not have the brains to match the brawn”.

The Westminster government will “plaster the country with union flags” as well as “take every opportunity to undermine the Scottish Government”, Swinney said.

The deputy first minister went on to blast the Conservatives for pushing ahead with Brexit in the midst of the pandemic, telling SNP delegates that “there is perhaps no greater example of how the Union has failed Scotland than the sorry saga of Brexit”.

He said: “Every sector will feel the chill wind brought on by Brexit. And there is no end in sight.

“The Tories are unwilling and unable to take the simple steps required to fix the problem they have created. The UK is facing a winter of discontent and Westminster isn’t working.”

The first “winter of discontent” occurred in the late 1970s, when strikes and industrial action were exacerbated by the coldest weather for 16 years. It left some remote areas of the UK isolated and put the then Labour government under intolerable pressure.