European Union (Withdrawal) Act

Ronnie Cowan Excerpts

Thursday 6th December 2018 Commons Chamber

[Ronnie Cowan (Inverclyde) (SNP)]

The famous Greenockian Chic Murray told this story: “I woke up this morning when my alarm bell rang. I switched it off and went back to sleep. Then my doorbell rang; I got up, went to the door, there was nobody there. I crawled back into my bed, I was falling asleep, and my telephone rang. And I said to myself, ‘This is one of those days when everything is going to go wrang.’” [Laughter.] Hansard will show that laughter rang around the Chamber unconstrained.

Ladies and gentleman, Brexit: the day when everything goes wrang. That is what many people fear. Over the last two years a number of local companies have written to me expressing their concerns; over the last two weeks the quantity of these emails has increased alarmingly. Businesses and organisations are now acutely aware that with only 113 days to go they are still being asked to plan for the unknown.

I have heard the term “just in time” thrown around this Chamber with great gusto, but I honestly wonder how well it is understood within the Cabinet. If a manufacturer or producer is operating a just-in-time process, they are doing so to streamline production. They do not want large stocks of components or ingredients; they want to receipt it into production, consume it, and move on. They do not want to have to stockpile inventory; that would tie up cash, and in business cash flow is crucial—just ask Carillion. Given that they currently run just in time, they do not have the required storage space, especially if that involves refrigeration units, and their computer systems are not configured to handle transactions from non-existent warehouses.

When commerce became aware of the potential issues of the turning of the new millennium, many businesses spent large sums of money and undertook comprehensive changes to avert disaster. I repeat: there are 113 days to go and we still do not have a plan. We have a range of outcomes, but nobody can write an effective IT system if the design is constantly changing. As we have heard this evening, these concerns seep into travel, transport, medicine, education—and the list goes on.

Brexit has challenged this Parliament and this Government to be innovative, courageous, responsible and entrepreneurial, and they have failed, failed, failed and failed again. Brexit has shown that this Parliament and Government are not fit for purpose, and just maybe that is a lesson we will take from Brexit.

In Scotland, we draw strength from the knowledge that we can do something about it. We can create our own future free from the incompetence, conceit and chaos of Westminster, yet every time we ask about Scotland’s priorities, options and unique opportunities and how they can be protected, we receive the same stock answer: the people of Scotland voted no in 2014. This translates as, “Scotland has forfeited all rights to its needs to be recognised as a sovereign nation.” This Parliament should be careful with its language, because when we say “taking back control”, we mean it.